OC and a CEW are tools, not answers. The hard part was never pressing the button. It is knowing whether you should, and being able to explain why.
The reflex problem
When training focuses only on deployment mechanics, officers learn to reach for a tool the way you reach for a light switch. But reaching for less-lethal is a decision with consequences, for the subject, the officer, and the agency. It deserves the same judgment as any other force option.
Decision before deployment
We train the decision first. What is the behavior, the threat, the environment, and the alternative? Less-lethal fits some problems and makes others worse. An officer who understands the why uses the tool better and hesitates less when it genuinely counts.
Articulation is part of the skill
If you cannot explain the decision afterward, the decision was incomplete. We train officers to connect what they observed to what they did, in plain language, so the response holds together when it is reviewed.
A tool in trained hands is an option. A tool in untrained hands is a liability. The difference is judgment, and judgment can be trained.