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Traffic Stops
The recent murder of Florida Highway Patrol Sgt.Nicholas Sottile
on January 14, 2007 made me think about the often overlooked dangers
of the traffic stop. There is no other Police function that is
as dangerous as the routine traffic stop for several reasons.
When stopping a random car you have no idea who is in the car or
what the person(s) in the car have recently been involved in. That
car that is stopped for a speeding violation could be occupied by a
law abiding citizen or a armed and dangerous violent wanted criminal
who will evade capture at all costs. We need to get away from
the “routine traffic stop” mentality and always assume that the car
we are stopping could potentially be occupied by an armed
subject.
The traffic stop is the time for sound Officer safety tactics and
not a time for simply going through the motions. Officer
safety tactics are taught and refreshed because they work and they
are a tool for keeping you safe. Officer safety tactics have
changed very little over the years because the traffic stop is still
pretty basic in that you stop the car and then you approach the car
on foot.
The first Officer safety tactic to utilize is to choose a
location for the stop that is beneficial to you. An example
would be that a stop in a well lit parking lot would be better than
a stop in a dark alley. Obviously we rarely have the luxury of
choosing our stop locations but it is something to consider. I
always say that every little thing we can do to give us the
advantage is worth the effort. We are not getting paid to play
football where if we make a mistake we get to line up and try
again.
Car positioning is the next area which requires tactics to aide
you. We don’t want to park too close to the car being stopped
because we may need to perform a vehicle maneuver in the event the
traffic stop goes bad very quickly. If the driver of the car
being stopped jumps out of the car with a gun we may need to drive
our cruiser into the armed subject to end the threat. The
point when you stop the car and you are still seated in your cruiser
is an extremely dangerous time. You are in a position of
disadvantage because your gun is in it’s holster, you are sitting
down, and your car door is shut.
There has been discussions over the years as to what an
Officer should do if he/she is seated in their cruiser during a
traffic stop and an occupant of the car exits and starts firing at
the Officer. What would you do? I have often thought of this
scenario and I would draw and shoot back through my cruiser’s front
window because it would take way too much time to open the cruiser
door, exit the cruiser, draw my weapon and fire. You may want
to ask your departments training staff about this and hopefully
conduct some training on this aspect of the traffic stop.
Every department has a different idea on tactics and that is fine as
long as those tactics are trained.
Notifying your dispatcher about your traffic is highly important
in case you need assistance. I myself have been guilty of not
calling in my traffic stops from time to time. The best case
scenario is to call the stop in prior to activating your overhead
lights so that when the car stops you can exit your cruiser quickly
which gives you the advantage. The less time you spend sitting
in your cruiser the safer you will be. Because of the dangers
of traffic stops it would be beneficial to have 2 Officers instead
of 1.
Criminals are less likely to attack 2 Officers for obvious
reasons. With 2 Officers you are now able to cover both sides
of the stopped car and watch for suspicious movements. 2 Officers
are a team and a team performs better than a single
individual.
Now that the car has been stopped we have to approach the
car to make contact with the occupants. At this point I
advocate having your hand resting on your holstered firearm for 2
reasons. If an occupant of the car decides to attack, you will
be able to draw your firearm quicker because your hand is already
holding the grip/handle. The 2nd reason is the occupants of
the car may see you with your hand on your gun and this might make
them reconsider a violent encounter with you. If a criminal
sees that you are extremely thorough with your tactics they may be
reluctant to challenge you. Many criminals are not stupid and they
can observe an Officer and understand an Officer who is tactically
sound and one who has let their guard down.
As you approach the stopped car you should be watching the
occupants for suspicious movements. Obviously the occupant who
is moving around a lot or making furtive movements would be
suspicious. If I am approaching a car and I get a funny
feeling about the occupants I will ask that the driver put his hands
on the steering wheel. Hands are what kill and I want to know
what the hands are doing at all times. The occupant making
furtive movements with his/her hands should be addressed
immediately.
I like to get close to the side of the stopped vehicle when I am
approaching because I can see inside the windows better and the
occupants would have a harder time shooting at me because of my
position. If the stop is at night we will have the car lit up
with our spot light and we will use our flashlight to further
illuminate the occupants. All of these things that we have
done so far are putting us in a position of advantage and
hopefully the criminal will understand this and not try
anything stupid.
While talking with the occupants we will now continue to watch
for suspicious movements and also scan for weapons inside the
car. Many Officers have spotted the grip of a handgun laying
partially concealed on the floor board, under a leg,
between 2 seats, etc. If the traffic stop is done
quickly the occupants may not have had time to properly hide a
weapon before you arrived at their window.
This is also the time to execute command bearing when dealing
with the occupants of the car. Later I will write an entire
post on the topic of command bearing but for now just think of it as
your presence and the way you carry and conduct yourself.
Command bearing conveys a message to the people you are dealing with
that you are in charge and you are sure of yourself and your
abilities. Command bearing does not mean that you are rude and
abrasive which is something we don’t want on the traffic stop.
Being polite and positive with the occupants of a car can work
wonders for you.
Walking back to your Police cruiser after making the initial
contact with the occupants is another dangerous time. Many
Officers turn their backs to the stopped car and walk back to their
Police cruiser. You should never turn your back on the
occupants of the car because you will become an easy target at that
point. I walk backwards until I get to the rear of the car and
then I will turn and walk at an angle so that I can watch the
occupants. An occupant of a car has less of a chance
of hurting us if we are watching his/her movements
throughout the stop.
I want the occupants of the stopped car to know that I have my
eye on them. If I am writing the ticket or using the radio and
the occupants look back at me, I make sure that they see that I am
looking at them even though I am performing another task at the
time. I advocate standing outside your Police cruiser when writing
the ticket or running the occupants for warrants. At this
point in the traffic stop we still want to be in a position of
advantage and that means standing outside your Police cruiser.
When issuing a ticket I like to keep the driver in the car unless
I feel there may be narcotics on the driver. I feel more
comfortable with the driver sitting down rather than getting out of
the car to sign the ticket.
The bottom line with this post is that traffic stops are
and always will be the most dangerous aspect of Police work.
Traffic stops are unpredictable and can turn bad very quickly.
Officer safety is a tool that will assist you in making traffic
stops safer.
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