Katman Du
banner
katmandu.bsky.social
Katman Du
@katmandu.bsky.social
Former cop, SWAT team lead, EOD tech. Just another 'blogger late to the technology party. he/him, fuck Putin, Trump, Musk, et. al. Happily (legally, ffs) married to my husband since 2015. Long-form writing: http://katsden.net
navigating via quick eye-blinks, coughing, for 100 yards. Find, mostly by feel, the water hose we used for decon during training, hose off for my usual 15 minutes before I could keep my eyes open.

And make up various reasons why my eyes looked like burning coals when asked. πŸ˜†5/5
February 10, 2026 at 3:55 PM
-triggered it-

-and OC sprayed from the entire circumference of the cap, right into my face.

Now, I'd been sprayed plenty of times before this, so I knew what to expect; mainly, that I wouldn't be able to open my eyes for more than a quick blink.

Right, then. Shuffle back to the door, 4/5
February 10, 2026 at 3:55 PM
I'd puncture the canister, drain the OC still inside, and toss it.

(side note: Training, Narcotics, Investigations, and School Resource were housed in a former elementary school, and I had to cross the playground to get to the treeline)

One particular time I held the canister out and- 3/5
February 10, 2026 at 3:55 PM
-for training. (Expiration date was mainly for the aerosol; they'd lose pressure after a long while)

For the empty, defective, or excess ones, I'd walk out from my office about 100 yards to the treeline, hold out the canister, and empty the propellant. With propellant gone, 2/5
February 10, 2026 at 3:55 PM
The time I pepper sprayed myself:

Amongst the hats I wore as departmental training officer was armorer, to include TASERs and OC spray. When the sprays reached their expiration dates or were emptied, I'd issue a new one and save the older ones that were still full and still had aerosol- 1/5
February 10, 2026 at 3:55 PM
Not too far away from me *whistles innocently and walks away, hands in pockets*
ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps.

If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they'll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight. www.ajc.com/politics/202...
ICE to begin detaining immigrants inside Social Circle warehouse in April
Homeland Security plans to build warehouse detention facilities in other cities being met with opposition.
www.ajc.com
February 10, 2026 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Katman Du
Thread. 🧡 (1/x)

On the superiority of water as the primary decontaminant for tear gas and peppery spray on skin and eyes.

To make it clear to people, this is a thread. Some of you are not clear on the concept. I will reply this with another post and mark it with a number in (x). And so forth. (1)
February 10, 2026 at 9:04 AM
That post sounds more immediately dangerous than mine was, tbh
February 10, 2026 at 1:38 AM
Are crunch berries naval awards?
February 10, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Including cutting the roofs of people’s mouths
February 10, 2026 at 12:32 AM
Black cats stick together
February 10, 2026 at 12:28 AM
That’s where all those amphetamine salts went.
February 10, 2026 at 12:26 AM
I found myself leaning against the stall walls while shooting the rifles... soooo stable
February 10, 2026 at 12:08 AM
It took a good 30 minutes for me. I'm proud of myself; I didn't panic that my bullshit bloviating device was down and I would be left to my own devices.πŸ˜„
February 10, 2026 at 12:06 AM
During the time when pharmacists were *begging* for ADHD drugs, we had drums full of them in a vault; but the DEA suddenly said we couldn't release them.

Still not sure exactly why.
February 10, 2026 at 12:04 AM
And at one time (although they have divested themselves of most of the products, after the OxyContin lawsuits got into full swing (no, not Purdue), we had pretty much every drug with a legit purpose or the pre-cursors in our vaults. Poppy straw from farms in Australia, amphetamine salts, ketamine...
Pharma plant which routinely had millions of dollars worth of controlled substances in vaults...

...but honestly, no one but an idiot would try and rob the vaults; the lowest risk was hijacking the trucks in transit.

And security through obscurity, everyone thought we just made band-aids.
February 10, 2026 at 12:04 AM
-died of an OD I panicked; thinking that they might trace that batch to this plant and I'd be scrubbing CCTV footage non-stop for days
February 9, 2026 at 11:59 PM
At one time (before this recent madness) we manufactured small batches of Fentanyl (the potency we made, you didn't need much... possibly the *only* case where you might die by touching it; certainly not after it's been packaged... *ahem* all you drama-llama cops)... every time a celebrity-
February 9, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Every inch of every area where CS might pass had cameras recorded off-site that even I couldn't shut off; so you weren't gonna do it unobserved. You'd need a lot of people to control every aspect and PD knew what we had and would respond accordingly.

Just jack the truck; 2 or 3 people needed.
February 9, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Pharma plant which routinely had millions of dollars worth of controlled substances in vaults...

...but honestly, no one but an idiot would try and rob the vaults; the lowest risk was hijacking the trucks in transit.

And security through obscurity, everyone thought we just made band-aids.
February 9, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Sound ON, BTW
February 9, 2026 at 11:37 PM
Which is why I'm glad my last security manager job wasn't an armed post (although you could argue that it should have been, based on what we were guarding), because...

...OK. A lot of them had a level enough head to be armed. Some of them used to be.

But the rest... oh, lawd.
February 9, 2026 at 11:35 PM
No, no... I can imagine.
February 9, 2026 at 11:33 PM
This range wasn't exactly wheelchair friendly; but I did see a ramp they had available so they were at least making a token effort. *sigh*

I did really see that ramp leaning against the wall and thought about implications
February 9, 2026 at 11:32 PM
Maaaaybeee... you should untwist your knickers and recognize when an *actual* expert is talking, and learn; rather than just sulking like an angry teenager
February 9, 2026 at 11:28 PM