I'm in emergency medical services and work closely with law enforcement in my area. I can tell you that the vast majority of officers will not use pepper spray unless the person is out of control or violent. There is a lot of paperwork and oversight involved in pepper spraying or tasing a subject and an officer can get his arse in a sling in a hurry if he uses them in an excessive or abusive manner. Sure there are incidents of poor judgement by a few officers but the media makes it appear that everyone who ever mouths off gets hit with pepper spray and/or tased, this is not the case. I've witnessed first hand a lot of mouthy, abusive, intoxicated, even violent people on the scene of accidents or assaults and rarely does the pepper spray come out.