Repeated questions about the responses and techniques used by law enforcement to respond to the April 18 riot in Campustown have led to an Iowa Law Enforcement Academy review of those tactics.

Ames Police Chief Loras Jaeger invited the academy to review actions taken and to make suggestions on actions the police department could take for future disturbances, said Cmdr. Jim Robinson of the Ames Police Department.

“[Jaeger] wanted to ensure our tactics were sound,” Robinson said.

Part of the motivation for inviting a review came from complaints about the use of pepper spray and tear gas during the riot.

“I think there have been a lot of questions of our application of chemical spray,” Jaeger said.

Penny Westfall, director of the academy, said the academy will send Gil Hansen, a chemical agents instructor, to meet with the command staff at the Ames Police Department.

“We’re willing to work with them at their request,” Westfall said.

The investigation will not be a review in the formal sense, Westfall said.

Hansen will meet staff and review video of the riot. He will then make suggestions on what could have been done differently if he thinks the situation calls for them, she said.

Jaeger said the review will include analysis of both chemical agents and tactical operations.

Dates are in the process of being arranged, but he expects Hansen to begin sometime in May, Jaeger said.

The review will be beneficial to the community because it will inform people what tactics were used and reassure them that police used the correct tactics, Robinson said.

Jaeger said he assumes the results will be a matter of public record when they become available.

“I think we owe that to everybody,” he said.

The police are interested in knowing if there are ways they can improve their tactics should a future disturbance occur, Robinson said.

Westfall declined to speculate on what the review’s outcome may be or what changes could be made as a result. “We don’t know if we’ll have suggestions,” she said.

She said from the footage academy officials have seen on the news, the riots appeared to be handled well.

Jaeger said he doesn’t know what Hansen’s report will indicate. He said he believed the use of chemical spray was appropriate, but the results will show if the tactics used fit the situation.

Robinson said he expects the review to verify the Ames police employed the right techniques.

“It’s our belief that the tactics deployed during this riot were correct,” he said.