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This week’s police podcast focuses on criminal interdiction.  In the past, many officers and trainers have focused on drug interdiction in rural stretches of highway.  I suggest that criminal interdiction techniques can, and should, be applied in all areas of your jurisdiction.

Among other things, I talk about officer safety, vehicle occupants and vehicle contents.

As mentioned in a previous podcast, the web address for the company making the Cobra Strike Plate is:  ArmorShield USA.  I did not see the plate on the site yet, but I am working on getting more information, including a video of the plate in action.

The podcast runs a little longer, a little shy of an hour, but I hope you get some good information out of it.

TRANSCRIPT:

Blue Sheepdog Podcast 008

Richard:  Hi, everyone and welcome to Episode 8 of the Blue Sheepdog Podcast. My name is Richard. And we’re back for another edition of “All Things Police Related”.

Just following up on some information I gave you a couple of weeks ago on the Cobra Strike Plate. The Cobra Strike Plate is a strike plate you can carry in your concealable vest. I mentioned this couple of weeks ago that I’d seen at the Shot Show. I pulled out the information, and it is called the Cobra Strike Plate. It’s made by ArmorShield USA. And they don’t have it on their website yet. So, I think it’s something that is going to be coming out very soon.

You can get it in 5” by 5” plate, which is perfect for your concealable vest. Or they actually also are going to make it in the 10” by 12” for your tactical size vest. So, if you are sort of like me, and you’ve got an extra plate carrier in your car just for those particularly hot calls or whatever, you can actually get it for your plate carrier. Throw it in there.

I’m not sure what the pricing is going to be exactly on the tactical size, on the concealable — the 5” by 8” plate. The folks out the Shot Show did tell me that’s probably going to run somewhere between a $100 and $150, which is pretty comparable to a lot of the similar products that are out there.

The difference is the other products are out there, at least on paper, aren’t going to be as good at stopping things as the Cobra Strike Plate. I’ve got a video that they gave me to look at. And I’m waiting for them to get permission to go ahead and put it up on the website so you can see it. But they take an AK-47 and, at very close ranges, pump a few rounds into this thing. And it stops it. It’s pretty amazing.

I’ve had other strike plates in the past that under certain conditions — and those conditions being at 100 plus meters, especially with dense foliage, and all these different kind of weasel out words, if you will, that it may help reduce the wounding effects of an AK-47 round, right; and not exactly terribly comforting.

But in this video, the guy walks up. He’s got an AK, pumps several rounds, I mean, from inches; not feet, not meters, or yards but just three, four inches — pumps several rounds into this. And it stops it. So clearly, if they get this thing to market pretty soon, it’s in the right price point, variable produce them, and does everything I think it does, it’s going to be a phenomenal product.

So hopefully, I’ll have some more information about that. I’ll be able to post that video for you pretty soon.

All right! Today, what I was going to talk about a little bit is criminal interdiction. Criminal interdiction — a lot of times, you’ll hear the terms drug interdiction or overland drug interdiction, these types of things. I prefer to use the term, “criminal interdiction”. And I think I first got that from a book called “Tactics for Criminal Patrol”. But I’m not sure that’s exactly where I got it. But I’m fairly certain it is.

But anyway, criminal interdiction — you’re getting past the idea of you’re looking for drugs. And what you’re looking for is criminal activity. Criminal activity could be a guy is moving drugs. He could be moving large amounts of cash from criminal enterprise. It could be they’re moving automatic weapons; could be terrorists moving explosives; anything criminal, even if it’s just a fugitive — somebody that’s wanted in 12 states for multiple homicides or whatever.

So criminal interdiction, by using that term, we kind of get out of the mindset of we’re just looking for drugs. And what we’re doing is we’re looking for criminal activity. And criminal interdiction does not have to be out on the interstates.

I know that a lot of people think that for drug interdiction or for criminal interdiction, that’s left to the state troopers, or the deputies, or the police officers that are working interstate or rural highways. And there’s no doubt that there are definitely those units that exist out there that have a great deal of success there.

But the thing to keep in mind is, for the most part, all criminal enterprise is operating within or moving from one to another population center. What that means is, if you’re a cop working in a rural area, these folks are coming through your jurisdiction from one location to another location, generally.

If you are working in an urban area, where you don’t have an interstate running through your zone or your district, keep in mind that those same folks that are going through those other areas are coming to, or they’re leaving from your district.

So when you talk about criminal interdiction, don’t get in the mindset of, “Oh, that’s just something that cops out on the highway do,” because it’s not. It’s something that you should be doing every time you make a traffic stop.

Criminal interdiction — you’re looking for a variety of indicators. And a couple of things to kind of keep in mind when doing criminal interdiction is the vast majority of people that you meet when doing criminal interdiction are going to be completely legitimate, honest, law-abiding citizens. They’re not who you’re looking for.

In a lot of ways, it’s almost like a number game. If you were sorting through all of your loose change looking for a silver dime or a silver quarter, you know that the vast majority of dimes and quarters you’re going to look at aren’t going to be silver, right? They haven’t made a silver dime or quarter since 1964. They’re still out there. But you got to sort through a lot of change to get it.

Well, it’s the same thing with criminal interdiction. The vast majority of the people that you run across are going to be law-abiding citizens. So, when you start doing your criminal interdiction work, you cannot and you should not treat everyone as if they’re a drug runner.

What you’re doing is you are looking for indicators to warrant further investigation. So if you’re doing criminal interdiction as part of traffic stops, which is probably the vast majority of cops do, you want to make every legitimate, legal stop you can, okay. You’re not making anything up obviously. You’re making legitimate, legal stops.

And then, you’re making some very quick evaluations of what’s going on with the vehicle, and what’s going on with the occupants to quickly determine, “Okay, does this warrant further investigation, or does it not warrant further investigation?”

If it doesn’t warrant further investigation, handle whatever the reason for the traffic stop was — a stop sign, or a seatbelt violation, whatever. Handle that. Put those folks on their way. And go back to — go back to fishing.

I’ve told a lot of people — and I stand by at this — that criminal interdiction is a numbers game. It is very unlikely that you will have a high ratio of stops to significant arrests. It is much, much, much more likely that you’ll have to make 10, 20, 30 stops before you get a decent arrest out of it; sometimes more. It just depends on luck of the draw.

So keep in mind that you want to be polite and professional with everyone you meet. Obviously, don’t give up your officer safety at all. But also, don’t get discouraged. If you make 20 stops, and you don’t get anything except for 20 written warnings out of it, don’t get discouraged because you never know what number 21 is going to be, or number 31, or 101. And if you give up, then you’re never going to be able to make a significant arrest.

A couple of other things to keep in mind when you’re doing your criminal interdiction work is, when possible, you always want to work with a partner. That’s going to give you best effect on talking with the driver, the passengers, because you’ve got a lot of constraints put upon you. And they’re very valid constraints as far as how long you can detain someone; what kind of questioning; those type of things you can do.

So if you have a partner, it’s much easier to talk with everyone that’s there; be able to complete your paperwork; do everything in a timely manner so that you’re not unreasonably detaining anyone. But yet, you’re still able to do that initial investigation to see if this is someone that warrants further investigation.

One of the things that — when you’re doing it right, you’re going to wind up doing a little bit of — as you’re going to do some vehicle searches. You are looking for drugs. You’re looking for other criminal contraband. And the vast majority of time, someone is not just going to see you, say, “Oop! I’m sorry officer. I’ll put myself in these handcuffs. All the drugs and weapons are in the trunk. Here are the keys.” Most of the time, you’ve got to do your investigation. You’ve got to go searching for it.

So if you’re going to do any kind of search — consensual search; or you’ve got probable cause to do a search — always do so with back-up on scene. That works out great if you’re working with a partner and he or she is right there with you. But if you stop someone, you smell marijuana, you made some determinations that, “Yeah, there’s something else going on here,” go ahead and get back-up started immediately because you never know how far away your back-up’s coming from.

And if you’re in a rural area, it could be 15, 20, 30 minutes before your back-up gets there, depending on how many folks you’ve got working, and how far away they are. In a little bit more of an urban environment, similar to where I work, back-ups are only two or three minutes away.

Two or three minutes aren’t too bad on a traffic stop. Two or three minutes is a long time if you wait until you start trying to pull people out of the car, and now someone pulls a knife or a gun on you. Two or three minutes is probably not going to be quick enough to do you any good.

So, never search without having back-up on scene. It’s far too dangerous. And if you don’t already have a partner on scene, and you think something — maybe do the stop, go ahead and start rolling your back-up then.

One other thing that I’ll throw out there; and this is something that some folks sometimes have a little bit of a problem with — But there’s no amount of dope in a car that’s worth getting killed for. None; there’s none. I don’t care how much heroine, cocaine, meth — I don’t care how much is in someone’s trunk, it’s not worth my life. It’s not worth your life. It’s not worth any of my partners’ lives. It’s not.

There are many cases, unfortunately, of police officers working alone that have been jumped; have been attacked; have been killed; have been shot, stabbed; who were doing criminal interdiction work and were killed. If they had another officer there; if they had back-up there; or if they hadn’t started doing a search without back-up there, things may have turned out a lot differently.

But that’s reality. You cannot do an effective search and safely watch people. It is impossible. There’s dash cam video out there, and I’m sure a lot of you have seen it, where an officer is searching a car. And he’s got two or three people standing outside the car; no back-up on scene.

And from that officer’s perspective, maybe his back-up is 30 minutes away. And he cannot wait 30 minutes. He cannot legally detain these people 30 minutes just to get a back-up officer on scene to search the vehicle.

Well, you know what? You need to do one of a few things there. Either you need to put them on their way; and try to get another agency to stop them down the road, where there are multiple units that can effectively do a search — that’s one way of doing it. Or you can talk to them and just say, “Look, guys, here’s the deal. My back-up is — he’s coming. But he’s going to be just a couple of minutes away,” which, obviously, may put you in a situation where they now realize your back-up’s not close. So, I mean, that may not even be a best way of handling it.

If you can, somehow or another, get them to voluntarily stay on the scene until you can get your back-up there, great. You’re the one in position. You know where your back-up’s coming from. You know how far away he or she is. You got to make that call.

But I’m telling you, there’s no amount of dope in that car worth getting killed for, okay? You’ve got family. You’ve got friends. You’ve got colleagues. And nobody in the world wants to see you get killed because you’re looking for dope in somebody’s car. All right? Okay, I’ll get off that course for a minute.

A couple of things to look for when you start doing criminal interdiction — first of all, like I said before, criminal interdiction’s a contact sport. And the only way in sport to have fun is to make contact with people. And by that, I mean you’ve got to — if you’re doing criminal interdiction as part of traffic stops, then you have to do a high volume of traffic stops. It doesn’t mean you’ve got to write a lot of tickets. You just have to do a lot of actual stops.

So, that may mean that you have to pull out your code book. And you have to learn all the ins and outs of every traffic regulation in your state. And then, you go out there looking for them. And every time you see somebody that is violating a tag law, a muffler law, a seatbelt law, or anything like that, you stop them.

And you cannot stop them based on what they’re driving. You cannot stop them based on what they look like, or any of those things. Racial profiling or any other kind of profiling based on gender, or religion, or any of those things is completely illegal. And they’re stupid.

I’m telling you right now that people of all races, ages, genders — all of these people are involved in criminal enterprise. You would think that an old, married couple driving across the country in an RV would not be who you’re looking for.

But in reality, there have been cases where old couples — yeah, I mean like retired folks in their 70s — driving RVs have been stopped by criminal interdiction teams and, in a consent search, they find all sorts of dope in that vehicle. Or they’re moving not just like a baggie of weed. I mean, we’re talking hundreds of pounds of dope.

So you’d — whatever stereotypes you may have in your mind based on race, or sex, or creed, or age, or any of those things, put those all out of your mind, okay? When you’re doing criminal interdiction, you’re looking to stop every vehicle you possibly can stop that you have an actual violation on. You have lawful reason to stop them, okay? So put all those racial things and everything else out of your mind. If you’re working from that mentality, you really need to seriously re-evaluate what you’re doing in police work.

A lot of times when you stop somebody — and this may be a little different if you’re doing highway interdiction versus something local. But if you’re doing highway interdiction; or you’re dealing with somebody that’s moving from one area of the country to another area of the country; from one state to another, a lot of times you’re going to have either one driver; or what I’ve seen is a driver and one passenger.

And the driver-and-passenger approach is used by some folks so they can continue driving in shifts. One guy can sleep while the other guy is driving, right? We’ve all done that in college or whatever, and we want to go and see a concert. We’re going down to Daytona for spring break, or whatever we’re doing, two or three guys load up in a car. And you take turns driving to get down there in one day rather than two days.

That’s the same thing with guys moving dope or other contraband. They’ll do the same thing. If you’re dealing with one driver, chances are he’s pushing himself kind of to the limit; trying to get this delivery done. And so, you may be dealing with somebody that’s particularly tired — somebody that may be strung out a little bit, at a mild-end coffee, or other over-the-counter stimulants. Or they may be doing a little bit of — a little bit of meth, coke, whatever; trying to keep themselves wired to make the drive.

The passenger and driver — that actually can work to your benefit. Obviously, there are some safety issues there because now you have two people to deal with. But it can also work to your benefit, as we’ll talk about here in a minute. So you see passenger and driver, look at that as being — yes, it’s also a safety concern, but also an opportunity.

What you want to do when you’re making your initial contact — Obviously, you’re going to identify yourself. You’re going to explain the reason for the stop. You are going to give them an opportunity to talk to you a little bit; explain whatever is going on. “Sir, I stopped you today for speeding. You’re doing 72 on a 55 zone. Do you have a valid or a legal justification for that?”

Let them talk. When they’re talking; when they’re responding to you, that’s just free information that they’re giving. They could say, “Oh, I’m just trying to get up to New Hampshire to see my cousin. She’s sick.”

“Oh, okay. All right. Well, what’s going on with her? Is she okay?” And they now kind of invited you into a little bit of a conversation. Now you cannot abandon the reason for the stop, okay? The courts are very clear on that. But what kind of cold, heartless cop would you be if you didn’t at least ask if she’s okay, right?

And something like that on the video in front of a jury — they’re not going to perceive that as being an awful thing. They’re going to perceive you as being someone that is actually compassionate. But the guy is giving you information that later on, when you‘re talking with him and he’s says that, yeah, he’s going to visit a sister in Illinois, now you know he’s lying to you because he first started off — he’s going to New Hampshire to see his cousin. Now he’s going to Illinois to see his sister. And now, you know, “Okay, I’ve got some serious red flags.”

So you make that initial contact. You let them talk a little bit; maybe, you get some information. And then, you start into, “Okay, sir. Do you have your driver’s license? Do you have your insurance car? Do you have vehicle registration?” And you start gathering those official documents. And you start kind of putting some of those together. And you’re looking for things.

You are looking to see if the driver’s story that you’ve gotten so far seem to fit the circumstances. If he hands you a registration that is not in his name; and he is from Florida, the registration’s in Georgia, and he’s going to Illinois — okay, what’s going on with all of that? [Chuckles] Right?

So you’re going to start asking just some simple questions. “Oh, okay. I see that someone else owns this car. Who is this person?” And you start kind of asking those questions. And you’re evaluating them for truthfulness. How are they responding to your questions? And then, does their story seem to fit with the circumstances?

If they’re giving you an obvious line of crap, then you know something’s up. You need — if you’re back-up’s not already on scene, go ahead and start rolling your back-up because you don’t know what you got. The guy could be wanted. The guy could be just an idiot. Or he could have a body in the trunk. You don’t know. But you’re looking — does the story seem to fit the circumstances?

99.9% of the lawful, law-abiding citizens are out there. You stop them. “Sir, where are you headed to?”

“I’m just headed up to the store. I got to get whatever.” They have an immediate answer that’s very clear; that’s very concise. The vehicle is in their name, or their wife’s name. Honest, law-abiding citizens will have, most of the time, very plausible explanations for anything that may be going on; whereas somebody that is involved in criminal enterprise probably will not.

And they will probably immediately start lying to you even if there’s no reason to just because they know they’re guilty. You just don’t know it yet. So when somebody starts lying to you, you need to really consider that huge, red flags, and start paying attention.

Now what’s great, as I’ve mentioned earlier, is that if there’s a passenger in the vehicle, now you can kind of compare stories. Now what I like doing in these types of situations — if I’ve got my back-up, or I’ve got my partner with me; I’m working like a two-officer car, or there’s a couple of us together and — upon immediate contact with the vehicle, I realize something’s kind of up, I’ll have the driver, and there are two of them in the vehicle. I’ll have the driver step out of the vehicle; come back, talk to me next to my car. My back-up is either on scene or on the way.

And my partner will then go up and talk with the passenger. Okay? So I’m talking with the driver. And my partner’s talking with the passenger. Now it’s sort of — It’s not the best situation for a contacting cover situation, right? — Because your cover officer’s supposed to be removed from the situation and is just evaluating things. In this particular circumstance, we’re not using actual contacting cover, or true contacting cover, or any contacting cover, if you want to put it that way.

But what we’re going to do is we’re going to position ourselves in such a way to where we can both see each other. And we’re going to try to turn the backs of the folks we’re talking to to each other. So we can visually see what’s going on between me and my partner. But they can’t see what’s going on with them.

Then we’re going to start comparing stories of everybody. And if the driver’s telling me, “Yes, that’s my friend in the car. I’m taking him to Atlanta. He’s got a job interview up there. He didn’t have a car. So I’m taking him up there.”

Meanwhile, the passenger is telling my partner, “Oh, no! We’re headed up to D.C. We’re going up there on a field trip.” Okay, we now know that the two folks are lying to us. And now, all we got to do is figure out why. Okay? So having two people in that car, having your partner back-up immediately available to you, is actually a great thing for matching stories.

Plus, the other thing to keep in mind is we still have not abandoned the reason for our stop. If I’ve stopped them for speeding, I cannot abandon that reason for the stop. And until such time as I develop some type of reasonable suspicion to detain them further, I have to deal with the circumstances in a reasonable amount of time to conduct the traffic stop.

So having my partner there; or having back-up immediately available to me, I can pull the driver out of the car. I can bring him back to outside of my car, or wherever I’m going to be. My back-up can get on scene and start talking with the passenger. I can stand there. I can talk with the driver. I can pull up my citation book. And I can start writing a warning citation.

Now, your jurisdiction may be different. You may not have the option of handing out written warnings or whatever. But I found that written warnings generate a whole lot of goodwill from someone, even bad guys. And they are much more likely to be cooperative with you if you appear to be just “I’m just the nice guy”.

“Look, I understand you’re in a hurry; you’re tired; you’re whatever. I’ve done the same thing. I’ve got a document why I stopped you. So I’ve got to write you a warning. But there are no fines to pay; it doesn’t go on your record or anything like that. So let me just write this warning out for you.” And generally, you’ll get a very positive effect on that.

And while you’re standing there talking with them, you’re writing this warning. And you’re continuing to talk with them, right? You’re just kind of shooting the breeze a little bit. “Really? You know, I haven’t been to Atlanta in years. What — what’s that like? Where are you all staying? What are you all doing? Why are you there?” And you’re continuing that. Your partner’s talking with the other passenger. They come back and say, “Yeah, something isn’t right.” And you can obviously go from there.

Now, one of the other things that you want to look at is who owns the car? Who does that car belong to? If the car does not belong to one of the occupants of the vehicle, you need to find out who the owner is; where the owner is; and do they know you have their car? [Chuckles] Okay?

Sometimes folks loan out their cars. And people will use it for running errands around town, or going on a trip, or whatever. And that’s perfectly fine, right? People can do that. It’s their property. But it’s pretty uncommon with a lot of people to do this just because a car is a very expensive thing. It is regulated and registered by the state. So, a lot of people are uncomfortable with just loaning someone their vehicle.

So that could be a little bit of an indicator. Certainly you want to ask, “Oh where’s the owner of the car?” And see how they respond. See what kind of answers you get because if you start getting more BS answers, then you know there’s something else going on here.

This may sound a little silly. But see if the driver or the occupants actually know the owner’s full name. I know that it sounds silly to a lot of people. But especially as of you that have been doing the job for a while. It’s amazing how many people claim they don’t know the person’s name from whom they’ve borrowed the car, right?

Police Officer: Whose car is it?

Driver: Oh, It’s Tim’s car.

Police Officer: Tim, who’s Tim?

Driver: I don’t know. It’s this guy in my neighborhood.

Police Officer: What’s Tim’s last name?

Driver: I don’t know.

Police Officer: What’s his address?

Driver: I don’t know.

Police Officer: What’s his phone number?

Driver: I don’t know.

Okay. [Chuckles] If you haven’t figured out, the guy is feeding you a bunch of crap, okay? But ask those questions and see where they take you. If it’s a rental car, is the renter in the vehicle? If not, why not? Where are they? Is a rental a one way rental from Miami to Atlanta? From Atlanta to Houston?

Rental cars are used both locally around town and for cross country journeys by people to move drugs and move other contraband. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which is — Police departments have got real good at seizing people’s property that’s involved in criminal enterprise.

So, to a drug dealer, small or medium sized drug dealer – It makes a lot of sense for them to go spend $50.00-$100.00 to give to one of their people. To just kind of run the car around town or run it out of state or whatever; rather than put one of their own vehicles up and possibly have the police seize their vehicle, right.

So, on rental cars, pay attention. Where’s the renter? If the renter is not there, where are they? And then, start looking- Okay, is the driver listed as an authorized driver on the rental paper work? Because chances are if they’re involved in criminal enterprise, the driver [chuckles] — A rental car without the renter present, the driver is, chances are, not going to be on that paper work; and chances are, nobody in the vehicles can be listed as an authorized driver, right?

So at that point, what I would suggest is you got the rental paperwork; the renter’s not there. There is no authorized driver on the scene according to rental paperwork. I go back to my car, I’d pick up the phone and I’d call Budget or Avis or enterprise, whoever is the owner of the car. Call them and say, “Hey look. I’m out with one of your rental cars. And the renter, according to this paperwork is not here. There are no authorized drivers here, what’s going on with this vehicle?”

Because a lot of times, they have a vehicle that has been – it hasn’t been returned. And they have been waiting until the end of the month to report it stolen or whatever their policy is. A lot of times they may even tell you, “Look, if the renter’s not there and there are no authorized people, no one’s allowed to have that vehicle, we want you to tow the vehicle”. They may tell you just straight up, “Impound it.”

A heck if the owner of the car says “No, those people are not allowed to have it. Please impound our vehicle”. Then you get to pop the trunk and everything anyway as part of your inventory of the vehicle, right? [Chuckles] So, that just has made your life really easy in both circumstances. But pay attention on rental vehicles. I can tell you based on first hand experience that rental vehicles, and in fact, rental trailers –

I actually had a U-Haul trailer that was being pulled behind a BMW of all things. The guy was moving interstate a bunch of counterfeit compact discs, of all things.

And you wouldn’t think that would be a huge deal. This guy had this trailer, and he had a regular enterprise going. And he had previously been arrested for the same thing. And I stopped him one day because of a tag violation on a trailer.

And here’s this guy and what appears to be his family, and their BMW, and their pulling their little trailer like they’re moving, right? Most folks would not even stop that vehicle. They look like the all-American family. I stop them and I immediately — the driver doesn’t have his driver’s license on him. They have rental paper work on the vehicle for a one way rental. The rental paper work — The trailer was rented by someone that was not on scene. The guy, his wife, and the kid really aren’t even related.

I quickly determine that what I thought was his family is not really even a family. They just barely knew each other. So I start putting all that stuff together and wound up making quite a nice felony arrest out of that. We wound up serving some search warrants and seizing all sorts of property. That BMW became a property of my police department. We got all sorts of felony charges. It was actually quite a big deal out of something that again, it started off very small, just a tag violation. And it was something that a lot of people may have just passed up.

“Oh, look there’s an all-American family just riding down the road in a BMW”, right? Well, not exactly. And because, I’m not looking for any particular stereotype, I was actually able to make quite a big arrest. And it would get one of those “atta boy” letters in my files; so that worked out pretty good.

That was a cross-country deal. Now, I’ve also seen locally, where a local drug dealer will rent a car, either himself or someone else will rent a car for someone that’s moving drugs around the city. I’ve seen it. We’ve made several arrests like that in my current jurisdiction to where you stop a guy. The guy’s involved in a drug transaction. Maybe just someone involved in a hand-to-hand, whatever. You get the guy stopped and — yup, there’s a guy, yup. There are all sorts of drugs, and yup, it’s a rental car. “Who’s renting the car?” “I don’t know. This guy gave it to me”, whatever.

So, rental cars, definitely, are one of those things to look at. And if you’ve got one and you’ve got some other warning flags going on, you definitely should follow up on that. Try to find out what all you’ve got.

I just mentioned a second ago about the case I had where it looks like a family but the folks in the car really didn’t even know each other. Those are sometimes called hired families and I just don’t know how often they’re used but they are used at least occasionally for moving drugs generally from one area of the country to another. Because cops are less likely to harass a family than they are a couple of young guys, right?

I had another case that was very similar to that to where I stopped, late at night, right off the interstate. I stopped a vehicle. I think it was a tag violation or an equipment violation. I stopped a vehicle, walking up to the car. Looks like dad, mom, a couple of kids in the back. That one was real weird. The kids didn’t know who the driver was, mom barely knew the kids. Mom and dad really weren’t mom and dad.

It’s another one of the situations in that particular case. I had — At that time, I was working in the state of Georgia. And I had contacted multiple agencies out in Texas and Florida, trying to figure where these kids belong and everything else. It was a weird case, but again it was another situation of a hired family, using kids and a wife as an appearance, or as camouflage, to hide criminal activity. So don’t let the — don’t let “Oh that looks like a nice family”. Don’t let that fool you at all.

One of the other things that you want to look at is who’s on the car but what is in the car. And then, maybe somewhat obvious to you; if you walk up to a vehicle and there’s a bag of dope lain in the center console, okay? We have a winner, right? But you want to look beyond just some of those real obvious things – at what is in the car?

One of the places that you might like to look is in the trunk, right? Because that seems like an easy place where you can hide a bunch of dope. And it is out of sight, relatively concealed. So you would think that a lot of people may have dope there. Well, and then, maybe they do. But you’re not going to be able to see that standing outside of the car. But what can you see?

Well, one of the things you can see, these things that might normally be in the trunk that are not in the trunk. For example, what if the driver has all his luggage in the passenger compartment? What’s to get in the trunk that you couldn’t put his luggage in the passenger compar – I mean, couldn’t put his luggage in the trunk, especially if he’s traveling by himself.

What if he’s actually gone a step farther and lying in the back seat is this spare tire and a jack, and maybe the jumper cables. Okay, why are those things, which are dirty to the interior of the vehicle that have no place in the interior of passenger compartment, why are they there? What is in the trunk? Is there a body back there? Is there a dope back there? Are there guns back there? Why is it there?

You would be amazed, if you’ve been in this work long enough, I’m sure you’ve seen crazy things yourself. But you would be amazed that some of the odd ball of things that officers come across, including dead bodies that are in trunks. One of my partners actually stopped a guy who was broken down on the side of the road. He didn’t stop and got out with him. The guy was broken down on the side of the road; and the guy was looking for assistance in changing his tire. The guy was dressed nicely, right? He’s wearing a suit or whatever. And my buddy says, “Okay, well, I’ll try to help you out if I can.” And the guy said, “Well, before I open the trunk I need you to know, I have a body in the trunk.”

[Laughs] Now, seriously how do you respond to that? Right? There’s a guy that tells you, “I got a body in the trunk.” Well, as it turns out, the guy actually was from a funeral home. And their normal transportation then was broken down. So they had to literally go out, get a rental car, and use the rental car to transport that body.

So what’s in the trunk? Who knows? Maybe a body in the trunk. One of the other things that you can look for are signs of contraband. If you see signs of contraband in the vehicle; then, obviously, you need to do some more investigation.

What are signs of contrabands? I’m just thinking about anything you can use to hide or transport a dope or other things such as packing materials, duct tapes or end wrap. Anything that might cover odors or smells; dryer sheets have been real popular with some folks, air fresheners, coffee grounds I know are popular, and all the movies and everything that theoretically throw the drug dogs.

But air fresheners I know, the – Some of the guys out there swear by those little green trees that you see hanging in people’s cars; that they have a forest of those. In other words, they’ve got about 20 or 30 of those suckers in the car. That’s a rogue an indicator that they’re trying to cover a smell.

Also, one of the things that you want to look for is anything in the vehicle, on the exterior of the vehicle, panels that are loose. Because a lot of times, guys are moving contraband or hide the contraband behind body panels, behind interior panels. So, look to see if there’s anything loose especially anything that there’s no obvious explanation for.

If on the other hand, its a brand new car, yet the interior kick panel next to the dryer or then, next to the passenger’s foot, is obviously loosened or been tampered with, a brand new car – okay, maybe there are questions there.

Right on the center console, we have a winner. But you want to look beyond just some of those real obvious things. What is on the car? One of the places that you might like to look is on the trunk because that seems like an easy place where you can hide a bunch of dope. And it is out of sight, relatively concealed. So you would think that a lot of people may have dope there. Well, I’m- maybe they do. But you’re not going to able to see that standing outside the car. But what can you see?

Well, one if the things you can see. Things that might normally be in the trunk that are not in the trunk. For example, what if the driver has all his luggage in the passenger compartment. Once again, a trunk that you couldn’t put his luggage in the [inaudible] our man couldn’t put his luggage on the trunk, especially if he’s traveling by himself.

What if he’s actually going to step further and lying in the back seat are this spare tire and a jack, and maybe a jumper cable. Why are those things which are dirty to the interior of the vehicle that have no place on the interior of passenger compartment? Why are they there? What is in the trunk? Is there a body back there? Is there dope back there of there guns back there. Why is it there?

You would be amazed, if you’ve been in this work long enough, I’m sure you’ve seen crazy things yourself. But you would be amazed with some of the odd balls things that officers come across, including dead bodies. They are in trunks. One of my partners actually stopped a guy who was broke down on the side of the road. He did stop and got out with him. The guy had broken down at the side of the road and the guy was looking for assistance in changing his tires. The guy was dressed nicely,  wearing a suit or whatever. And my buddy says, “Okay, I’ll help you out if I can.” And the guy says, “Well before I open the trunk I need you to know, I have a body in the trunk.

Now seriously how do you respond to that? There’s a guy that tells you I got a body in the trunk. As it turns out, the guy actually was from a funeral home. And their normal transportation then was broken down. So they had to literally go out, get a rental car. Use the rental car to transport a body.

So what’s in the trunk? Who knows? Maybe a body in the trunk. One the other things said, you can look for are signs of contraband. If you see signs of contraband in the vehicle then obviously you need to do some more investigation. What are signs of contraband? I’m just thinking about anything you can use to hide or transport a dope or other things. Such as packing materials, duct tapes or and wrap. Anything that might cover odors or smells or iron sheets might be popular with some folks. Hair fresheners, coffee grounds are now popular in all the movies and everything. Theoretically for all the drug dogs. But air fresheners are known to some of the guys out there swear by the these little green trees tat you seen hanging in peoples cars. That they have a forest smell  in the car. That’s a good indicator that they’re trying to cover the smell.

Also one of the things that you want to look for is anything in the vehicle on the exterior of the vehicle, panels that are loose. Because a lot of times, guys are moving contraband or hide the contraband behind body panels, behind interior panels. So look to see if there’s anything loose, especially, anything that there’s no obvious explanation for. But if in the other hand its a brand new car yet the interior kick panel next the driver is loose okay, maybe there’s questions there.

Also look for, and this may sound a little silly, look for shiny screws. If somebody has been putting on and taking off body panels, or interior trim panels or things, sometimes they might lose the screws so they have to get a new screw. And most of the time, the screw they use to replace does not match the color of the screw that they lost.

In other words, a lot of times you might have a black screw or a painted screw or something like that for an interior body panel. But now, they’ve to replace it which is the bright shiny zinc screw. But if you see a bright shiny zinc screw, okay, then you know, somebody has been taking that panel off at some point.

Or the other thing could be if it is a color-matched screw but there are all sorts of scrapes in the paint that are on it, then you know, okay, well, somebody has been down there fiddling around with that screw.

So, just another thing to think about. Well, we’ll running pretty long on this, but those are just some of the – some of the basic considerations when doing criminal patrol. And anytime you’re doing criminal interdiction, there are infinite variables that are involved. And people can hide things and transport things in all sorts of different ways. Human beings were nothing if not creative. So, definitely keep your eyes open when you’re doing this step. You should still be able to get the book “Tactics for Criminal Patrol”.

Some of the things in there — I think the book was written around 1995-1996, if I remember it correctly. Some of the legal things in there may have changed over the years just because courts have addressed some different issues such as search of a vehicle incident to an occupant’s arrest. But the tactics that are talked about in there are — Most of them are still very valid.

So, make sure you carefully check the legal aspect of some of the things in there but “Tactics for Criminal Patrol” I used to be able to pick that up on Amazon. I’ll see if I can find it. There are a few other books and videos that are out there.

There are some courses that you can take through your academy. I know that the Federal DOT in conjunction with the El Paso Intelligence Center and some other agencies with all sorts of long acronyms. They do all types of overland drug and addiction courses and commercial vehicle drug interdiction courses, and those things. Those are all excellent courses.

If you can get to those, they’re normally offered completely free. It’s just a matter of getting time off from your agencies so you can go over there and take one, but those are all excellent.

Bottom line when you’re doing this, keep in mind that you need to work with a partner as much as you can. That’s going to give you your best effect. You never want to search anything whether it’s people or vehicles, you never want to search anything without having backup on scene, okay?

Not coming, not close by, but on scene.

Also, keep in mind that most of the people that you deal with, the vast majority of people that you deal with are average everyday law abiding citizens, okay? So, keep a smile on your face. Be professional, be polite. Handle your business in a safe manner but do so in a professional manner, okay?

These people are the folks that literally pay our salaries and you may not quite grasp that but they actually deserve quality police officers and we want to give them what they deserve. So, keep in mind that the vast majority of people we deal with are the good guys. So, let’s be professional.

And last but not the least, no amount of dope is worth getting killed for. None. I don’t care how much is in the vehicle, it is not worth getting hurt or killed over. If you got any questions, comments, concerns, shoot me an email richard@bluesheepdog.com. Anything that you’d like me to expand on, talk about in the future, whatever, shoot me that information; and I’ll see what I can do for you. As always, stay safe.

Make sure you search everywhere!

The full story is at the Athens (AL) News-Courier.

Stay safe!

The focus of the classes is typically on defining what a “burglary” is, the difference between “assault” and “battery,” and elements of each crime.  Very little time is put on the rights of citizens to use force to defend themselves and their property.  Unfortunately, this means that police officers sometimes arrest the wrong people.

For example, here in my state, the law allows a property owner or a person acting as his agent (such as a merchant or a security guard) to use reasonable force, not including deadly force, to end another person’s trespass upon their property.  This could be a bar tender removing a disorderly drunk from a club, or a security guard escorting a shoplifter from a store.

In one case I am familiar with, a store clerk was working alone in an upscale cigar shop in a shopping mall.  Two males walked in, and one began to engage the clerk in conversation.  The clerk recognized that the one male was trying to distract him, while the other was trying to get behind a counter to remove some high dollar merchandise.  The clerk ordered the men to leave the store, which they refused, and the clerk called mall security for assistance.  The men began to threaten the clerk, a military veteran.  In response, the clerk physically tossed both men out of the front of the store.

The law is pretty clear on this matter.  The clerk was an authorized agent of the merchant, responsible for the store and its merchandise.  The men engaged in activity the clerk recognized as criminal, and ordered the men to leave, but they refused.  The clerk then physically removed them, without injuring them, which would seem to be a reasonable amount of force.  Yet, the responding deputy arrested the clerk.

The deputy claimed that the clerk battered the men (any unlawful touching of another could be considered battery), based solely on the statements of the men ejected from the store.  The clerk described the exact events I outlined above, while the two ejected men said the clerk “went crazy” for no reason, and threw them from the store.  The explanation of the two men does not appear reasonable to most cops with any level of experience.  Additionally, the deputy did not watch the store video that the clerk offered to show her.

After spending several hours in jail, posting a bond, missing work, and securing an attorney, the clerk got to one of the initial hearings.  Once the prosecution took a look at the video, the state immediately moved to drop all charges.  At this point, though, the clerk has lost a lot of money and time.  Plus the clerk now has an arrest on his record that he will have to explain when he applies for certain jobs or security clearances.

Part of the problem in this case was the lack of proper training given to the deputy.  The clerk told me that the deputy didn’t have a bad attitude, but rather she just did not seem to understand the law.  I believe that this is a common point of failure in the academies and field training programs.

I once encountered an instructor who advised recruits not to even consider self defense in any case they worked, because (1) we can’t make those decisions in the field, and (2) if it really was self defense, the defendant can bring up at trial and be acquitted anyway.  I was blown away by the ignorance of this instructor.  First, it is our job to investigate possible crimes and make decisions on whether or not a crime happened, and if so, who did it.  Second, if we arrest the victim because we don’t understand or want to learn the laws on self defense, aren’t we really then the bad guys?

Hopefully, you have a solid grasp on when you as a police officer are allowed to use force, and what would be reasonable.  In many states, the same standards apply to all other citizens as well, and this may be a good “rule of thumb” to go by.  Keep in mind that in some cases a non-law enforcement officer may be entitled to use more force than a police officer would be, and in many states force may be used to defend property, in addition to the lives of the victim and his or her loved ones.

It is an ethical obligation to know your jurisdictions laws on self defense and the use of force by citizens so we do not wrongfully arrest and prosecute victims instead of the bad guys.

Self defense laws are normally not too difficult to understand.  Sometimes their application becomes difficult when you are investigating cases, but arresting the wrong person because of our own ignorance is unacceptable.

Stay safe!

You can use the magazine “High Times” to make more drug arrests.

New officers don’t always have the “street knowledge” they need to make good drug cases.  Street knowledge is something that often takes years to build before an officer can recognize common drugs and activities surrounding their use and sale.

Training is not a substitute for experience, but it does give the officer additional information to use while on the street to hasten their learning.  However, drug training is often not available to new officers.

As an alternative to training, self-study is the next best thing.  While there are some good books and self-study programs on illicit drugs, one of the least expensive, and readily available sources of information is the magazine High Times.

High Times is a magazine available in many convienance and book stores throughout the USA.  Devoted to writing about marijuana, the magazine offers great, full-color photos of different strains of marijuana, including young, immature plants, flowering plants, and whole grow operations.

Additionally, High Times has many sales ads that offer drug paraphernalia for sale.  For the new officer who may not know what a pipe or bong looks like, these ads can be invaluable for helping an officer establish probable cause for a search and/or arrest when in the field.

High Times also has a feature called “Trans-High Market Quotations.”  The section is essentially a market index price for marijuana, listing an US average and regional pricing.  For example, in the February 2009 issue, High Times reported the US price index at $364/ounce, with ‘schwag’ selling for $59/ounce and high quality ‘kind’ selling for $465/ounce.

So, if you would like to learn more about marijuana, or the marijuana culture, grab a copy of the High Times.  It is one of the most educational things you can do for $6.00.

Stay safe!

Richard is a police officer with a medium sized, central Florida department, and previously worked for a Metro-Atlanta agency.  He has served as a field training officer, court officer, corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, watch commander, commander of a field training and evaluation program, and general pain in the butt to management-types looking to cut training hours.

Richard is a police officer with a medium sized, central Florida department, and previously worked for a Metro-Atlanta agency.  He has served as a field training officer, court officer, corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, watch commander, commander of a field training and evaluation program, and general pain in the butt to management-types looking to cut training hours.

A Border Patrol agent, working south of Ajo, Arizona, encountered Mexican military personnel who had crossed over into the United States. The agent was held at gunpoint for a period of time, presumably while the smugglers they were protecting moved through the area. Thankfully, back-up officers arrived and the troops withdrew without a gun battle.

Unfortunately, not all US law enforcement encounters with the Mexican army have been as “peaceful.” For example, in January 2007, the Mexican army, in the United States, fired on Texas deputies with a .50 caliber machine gun.

Or how about the time in 2002 when a Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation police officer reported being chased by men in a Humvee and a Border Patrol agent responding to assist, encountered Mexican soldiers who fired on him with a .50 caliber machine gun.

Scores of incidents like these have been confirmed, but hardly mentioned in the press. The southern border is a war zone, and we are sending law enforcement officers in to do what mechanized infantry should be doing. And then our government tries and convicts two agents for shooting an armed drug smuggler. It makes one wonder what the hell is going on.

Read a well-researched article in the Washington Times here. Read an interesting “take” on the incident in an AP article here. Check out the Border Patrol union local 2544′s post about the most recent incident here.

Here are a few locations that I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has found in recent years:

• Contraband hidden in a womans wig.
• Bags of heroin hidden in teddy bears.
• Marijuana concealed in the hollowed out boards of wooden pallets.
• Cocaine masked in the soles of shoes.
• Marijuana bundles in man-made landscaping stones.
• Drugs stashed in the manifold of an engine.
• Drugs concealed in new furniture.
• Marijuana hidden in metal cans disguised as food products

In addition, I.C.E. has located a lot of drugs being transported inside living people or animals. While you may not be able to see inside a man’s thigh (yes, they have found cocaine surgically implanted there), do pay attention to the unusual transportation of animals. Often, smugglers will implant large quantities of drugs inside snakes, dogs, or other animals, with the intent to kill the animals and retrieve the dope once they arrive at their destination. PETA and I don’t see eye-to-eye on most things, but this type of drug smuggling is clearly cruel.

One of the best hiding spots I.C.E. officers have discovered was a load of marijuana concealed in the floorboard of a trailer hauling two live bears! Definitely not the day to be the junior officer on scene…

Stay safe!

Topics in the course include: indicators of drug couriers, roadside interviews, search and seizure case law, concealment locations and methods, “source” states and frequent overland routes, the use of K-9s, profiling, documentation, and more.

I have taken a variety of drug interdiction/criminal patrol courses in the past, and felt that this one does a good job of conveying a lot of the important information. If you have never taken a class on criminal interdiction you will get a lot out of this program. For the well-versed drug interdiction officer, this course is a solid refresher in most areas, and you may pick up a few new things also.

The course is rich in multimedia content, but a lot of reading will be required. The course is designed to be completed in 8 hours, and can be stopped and started at any time. To receive course completion credit, you do need to complete the course within 90 days of receiving the course.

I have taken several of the police training courses they offer (see prior post), and I have found there are three great reasons to use the training offered by The Backup Training Corporation:

1. the content is current, informative, and very relevant to a police officer’s duties,
2. the training course is FREE ($6 shipping/processing fee only), and
3. you can receive college credit from an accredited college for taking these courses.

Many states also recognize the training, and credit the classes toward the police officer’s in-service requirements.

The college credit (200-level classes) is awarded by North Idaho College, a fully-accredited college*, when you complete certain groupings of police training courses. A total of 17 semester hours is available. If you wish to obtain the college credit (your option–you don’t have to), simply pay a $25 application fee to the college plus $10 per hour of credit. So, for a grand total of $195, you walk away with 17 hours of college credit. Considering a 12-credit hour semester will set you back $1200+ at most institutions, that is a bargain you simply can’t argue with.

Stay safe!

*(Please note that there are a lot of pseudo-accrediting agencies out there. The real agency for the region, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, accredited North Idaho College, along with the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, Utah State University, etc. So the credits do transfer.)

Called a PC Micro Grow Center, this commercially available product disguises a small grow operation inside of a home computer tower. This item includes grow lights and ventilation inside of a PC-style computer case. Currently on sale (Christmas holidays coming up, you know), this tower is selling for $650.00.

This price probably puts it beyond what the average doper is willing to pay to cultivate a couple of marijuana plants. However, the same type of item should be able to be constructed for a lot less using a regular PC tower case. So, pay attention when conducting your searches. If there is a computer that isn’t hooked up to a monitor and keyboard, that may be a good place to check.

Stay safe!

The Plate Flipper is a device that installs behind the license plate of a car or motorcycle.  When activated, the plate flips down, rendering the license plate completely unreadable.  The speed is nearly instantaneous.

The device could be used to avoid tolls, as well as concealing the identity of the driver in more serious crimes.

Stay safe!

Regardless on the reason for the stop, there are certain things a police officer can do to make the event as safe as possible. I’ve listed some tips that I have picked up over the years. Use what works for you, and feel free to send me your ideas as well.

passenger side approach – Daytime or nighttime, this is hands-down one of the best things you can do to stay safe during a traffic stop. If a driver is looking to ambush you, more likely than not, he’ll expect you on the driver’s side. If you come up on the passenger side, you can often get a better view of what, and who, is in the car.

Another safety benefit of the passenger-side approach is not having your butt hanging out in traffic. Whether by accident or malice, some of the passing motorists may hit you while you are trying to deal with the driver. By standing on the passenger side of the stopped motorist, you are less likely to be hit by a passing car.

get out of the driver’s seat – Sitting behind the wheel of your patrol car is just about the worst place to be if the person you have stopped decides to attack you. So, when initiating the stop, get out quickly. When running your license checks, stand near the passenger/rear of your car and run them on the radio, or if you have to use your in-car computer, access it from the passenger side of your car. Writing a ticket? Try standing at the read of your car again.

If you have to sit in the driver’s seat of your car because of the computer configuration/computer generated tickets (like my department), keep a close eye on the driver. Jump out at the first sign of trouble.

Also, think outside the box. If you are behind the wheel, and the dirtbag comes running at you with a gun, just run him over. (Sometimes the best answers are the easiest.)

turn your wheels to the left – It happens to a lot of officers: your cruiser gets rear ended by a passing motorist. If you are out of your car, and your wheels are turned to the left, your patrol car will (hopefully) roll to the left, and away from you.

wall of light – Make sure you use all of your patrol car’s lighting to create that “wall of light” that you can use for concealment on a nighttime traffic stop. I know this is basic training you got in the police academy, but it works.

An associate of mine from another department was shot, but survived, partially because he and his trainee used the wall of light. Rolling up on a “stranded motorist,” the recruit officer properly used the lighting from their patrol car. As they walked up to the car, the “motorist” ambushed them, shooting and seriously wounding my friend. Both officers fell back behind the light, and the suspect tried to find them, but couldn’t see them because of the lighting difference. The recruit did what he had to, and the citizens were saved the expense of a trial. The wall of light made a tactical difference that allowed both officers to survive, and eventually return to duty.

Stay safe!

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This tactic of using leased property extends beyond the motor vehicle, and observant officers can make an impact on criminal enterprise by watching self-storage facilities.

Self-storage facilities generally offer criminals with a near-ideal location from which they can work or store their products. The facilities often take cash, don’t do background checks, ask few questions, are open 24-hours a day, and, based on how the property is laid out, offer the ability to work out of the view of the casual passerby.

Through the years, police officers have found all sorts of criminal activity lurking inside of an unassuming self-storage facility. Recently, police training classes have talked about the use of a self-storage facility to establish a meth lab. While the threat of methamphetamine production is real, don’t forget about other crimes that can happen in these units:

• storage of drugs
• storage of counterfeit goods
• stolen property
• money that is waiting to be laundered
• the making of bombs for a terrorist attack
• storage of illegal weapons

By way of example, law enforcement officers seized 100,000 Ecstacy tablets in a self storage unit in the Los Angeles area on October 29,2007.

Make contact with the managers of the facilities in your beat. Ask them if they have noticed anything, or anyone, strange on the property. If they are willing to work with you to prevent crime, suggest they pay attention to their renters. If anyone displaying certain common criminal characteristics rents from them, ask them to call you. Some of these common characteristics include:

• paying cash only
• paying for the rental months in advance
• abnormal concerns about privacy
• nervous behavior
• the use of fake or altered ID
• late night trips to the storage unit
• people other than the leasee visiting the unit

None of these characteristics establishes probable cause for criminal activity, but if someone pops up displaying several of these characteristics, they may be worth checking out.

Another thing to request of management is their permission to walk a department K-9 through the common areas of the facility. K-9′s trained to detect drugs and/or bombs may hit on a scent in a common area that will lead you to a specific unit.

Keep your mind and eyes open when patrol around a self storage facility. You never know what you may find.

Stay safe!

Is it legit? Maybe…but maybe not.

The International Driving Permit

There is a legitimate document called an “International Driving Permit.” This document is a translation of a valid driver’s license into several different languages. The document is not a replacement for the original document, rather it is simply a translation that a foreign citizen can present along with their driver’s license to aid a police officer in deciphering the actual license. An International Driving Permit without the original driver’s license does not confer any driving privileges.

The USA entered a United Nations treaty in 1949 that is basically a reciprocal agreement among all of the signators to accept the driver’s license of a foreign visitor. So, for example, if you traveled to Ireland from the United States, you could legally drive a car while on vacation. The IDP makes life a lot easier if you wreck your rental car in Poland, and the local constabulary doesn’t readily understand your New York license.

The permits are issued in different countries around the world. The U.S. Department of State has authorized two organizations to issue IDP’s to United States citizens: the American Automobile Association and the American Automobile Touring Alliance. The AAA and AATA can only issue IDP’s to US citizens, so police officers making traffic stops in the States should not ever be offered one of these documents.

International Driver’s License Scams

There are a large number of individuals and companies making and selling “international driver’s licenses.” These are all fakes; bits of paper and plastic used to separate fools from their money.

A lot of the people selling these worthless documents use the UN treaty to “validate” their products. Like any good fraud, there are enough elements of the truth to make the deal seem genuine to the gullible. A lot of times, these “licenses” are sold to illegal immigrants. Many of the illegal aliens don’t understand that these licenses are fraudulent, and they willingly pay $50 or more to obtain one.

Other people that may purchase one of these fake licenses include under-aged college students looking to buy alcohol, and people with suspended -real- driver’s licenses.

Some of the fake licenses are crude, but many are being made with quality equipment. A lot of the fakes are produced on plastic stock, similar to a real driver’s license, with a digital photo, bar code, and hologram.

I won’t link to any of the websites that produce these fraudulent licenses, but feel free to do a Google search for “International Driver’s License.” You will find plenty of examples at which to look.

So, the next time you encounter an international license or permit, just keep in mind: is the document translating a real license, or is it presenting itself as “the” license? Chances are good that the document that is just translating is legit, while the other is not.

Stay safe!

Additional Information:

FTC Targets Sellers of “International Driver’s Permits” over the Internet
FTC Consumer Alert: International Driver’s License Scams
US Department of State: IDP and Travel

In this case, the counter-move is a small device that jams GPS signals, preventing you from using them to track your suspect. It plugs into a cigarette lighter and emits a low power (200mW) jamming signal that claims to prevent tracking and logging using a GPS signal. The device specs indicate that it will jam GPS signals that are between 2 to 4 meters away.

I do not know of any testing that has been done to test these claims, but in theory, GPS signals are blockable. Pricing starts at $83.95. For more information, follow this link.

This has obvious implications for ongoing surveillance operations, and this device also raises concerns for officer safety.

Stay safe!

ArchPort™ offers a variety of sandals and athletic shoes that have a thicker sole, with small compartments that are accessible from the side of the shoe. Marketed as a way to carry or hide things like money or keys while at the beach, these shoes could also be used by criminals to store drugs, handcuff keys, razor blades, and the like.

These shoes and sandals come in a variety of colors and styles. The footwear appears to be quality items, and they run in price from $44.95 to $89.95. While the possession of these shoes is not illegal in any way, police officers should be aware of their existence, and look for them when searching prisoners.

Stay safe!

Additional photos: