In the first instance, an officer rolled up on an unknown situation in the middle of a large intersection.  A Good Samaritan was trying to hold down an out-of-control girl who was screaming “Kill me!” over and over again at the top of her lungs.

The officer and citizen managed to keep the 90 lbs. girl on the ground.  Another officer arrived to replace the citizen.  Now with two officers trying to handcuff her, the girl began to fight and actually began pushing up off the pavement with them on her back.

The first officer unloaded a can of OC into the girl’s face.  It had no effect and she pretty much drank it like a Slurpee.  Whirling around, she kicked the female officer in the groin.  The crazed girl was finally subdued and taken for medical treatment.

At the hospital, she became lucid and told officers she had ingested three mushrooms.  She asked what had happened to her.  She did not recall the fight in the intersection.

The next night officers responded to a local McDonald’s for a man running around the parking lot shouting that people were chasing him and trying to kill him.  In his paranoid state, he did not believe the uniformed officers were really the police.

As in the last case, the fight was on when the officers tried to take him into custody for psychiatric evaluation.  Unfortunately, this guy was well over 300 lbs.  The officers used good tactics and took him to the ground immediately and decisively, preventing anyone from getting seriously injured.

At the scene, the man began to struggle on the ambulance gurney and tore out an IV in his arm, sending blood spurting.  A clip on the IV tube cut one of the officers on the wrist and that officer also went to the hospital for an exposure evaluation.  The suspect’s blood tested negative for any biohazards.

After being sedated at the ER, this man said he had smoked synthetic marijuana sold as “K2.”  Hospital records showed he had been in the ER before for erratic behavior after smoking this same substance.

Whether they are on psilocybin mushrooms, synthetic marijuana, or any hallucination-producing mood modifier, the suspects’ violent and unpredictable behavior is dangerous to police officers and deputies.

For some reason we are seeing more of the psilocybin mushrooms in my area.  We had an impaired driver in our holding cell on a DUI charge.  He suddenly lost it and began ramming his body into the reinforced glass wall.  He started screaming for us to help him, but he displayed aggressive actions toward us.  We fought him on to a stretcher and took him to the ER.  They heavily sedated him to put him out of his hallucinogenic “shroom rage.”

In the old days, we fought with bad guys on phencyclidine, called PCP or angel dust, which had powerful hallucinogenic effects.  The drug was said to give people superhuman strength and resistance to pain.

Suspects on any of these hallucinogenic drugs do have a heightened resistance to pain compliance, mainly because the drugs dull any physical sensations.  Along the same line, they seem to display uncanny strength, but they can exert maximum physical effort because they do not feel fatigue, lactic acid build-up, or pain associated with broken body parts.

The most dangerous side effect of hallucinogens is their distortion of a person’s reality.  They may be reacting to what they perceive as a life-threatening situation to them.  Because of this, normal moral inhibitions do not come into play.  They may be totally committed to murdering you to save themselves from the “monsters.”

Another deadly consideration for our routine day at the office.

Randall is a twenty-four year sworn police officer in a mid-sized Florida police department.  He has been an FTO, K9 Handler, Detective, and SWAT Team Leader.  He is currently the K9 Unit Sergeant and department SWAT Coordinator.

The Morphix Chameleon is a chemical detection unit that is worn on the forearm or attached by Velcro to the uniform of a first responder.  The purpose of the kit is to provide an officer, firefighter, or soldier with immediate visual identification of the presence of hazardous gases.

A passive detector, the Chameleon has ten windows, called cassettes, which change color when exposed to certain chemicals.  The Chameleon can be configured for Clan-Meth Lab, Chemical Suicide, or Haz-Mat detection by simply changing the cassettes.

The kit is easy for an operator to use.  Once strapped on, the officer needs only to glance at it to be alerted.  The cassette windows start out a single color.  If a cassette changes to two colors, it has been exposed to the toxic chemical.

No power source is required.  The cassettes have chemically reactive strips inside that remind me of “litmus paper” from junior high school Chemistry.

I found the Chameleon to be very unobtrusive.  The face of the kit measures 3 7/8” X 2 ¾.”  The entire armband weighs less than two ounces.  The strap is adjustable up to 14” in circumference.  A larger 18” armband is available.

The cassettes for each different type of hazard are individually pre-packaged, so the user just inserts all the cassettes in the armband and he or she is ready to go.  Initially enclosed in foil, the cassettes are loaded just prior to deployment.

Once opened, the cassettes have a 24-hour service life. They also remain viable after salt or fresh water immersion for up to one hour.  Overall cassette shelf life at room temperature is 24 months.

I recently received this Chameleon test kit.  A month ago, it is something that an officer could have used at a reported meth lab in one of our apartment complexes.  I have also been involved in search warrant services with SWAT where a suspected lab was in operation.  Detectors such as these could provide a valuable safety warning to officers.

In a previous article on Chemical Suicides, we talked about detection on the approach to one of these scenes.  This product would definitely assist in that.  In my area, we are lucky to have a Fire Rescue Haz-Mat response in mere minutes.  Not all officers are as fortunate.

Since I can’t just stand back and not give something a try, I used the included test kit in my secret lab.  The enclosed chemical training vials set off the cassettes appropriately.

In further experimentation, I found that, in less than 5 seconds, the Chameleon’s Chemical Suicide pack detected a vapor concentration of a common household chemical (no, I’m not going to say what) and gave a bi-color alert on one of the cassettes.

(Blaring disclaimer:  I am not Haz-Mat trained, nor am I a chemist.  I cannot speak to the absolute accuracy of any kit like this.  As usual, do your research and consult with the proper subject matter experts before using a product such as this in the field.)

I found Morphix Chameleon starter kits with one armband and packs for either Clan-Lab or Haz-Mat with ten cassettes each (ten uses) for under $200.00 on-line.  Cassette refill packs were about $150.00 for a ten-use kit.  For fifteen bucks an incident, I’d say that was well worth the money.

Officers are continuing to confront more complicated survival scenarios for each day’s pay.  Every bit of training and tools we can find to mitigate these risks is a bonus for our safety and the safety of our citizens.

Randall is a twenty-three year sworn police officer in a mid-sized Florida police department.  He has been an FTO, K9 Handler, Detective, and SWAT Team Leader.  He is currently the Midnight Shift K9 Sergeant and department SWAT Coordinator.

The Lexington, KY Police Department set up a controlled buy of crack cocaine outside of an apartment complex.  As officers moved in to arrest the drug suspect, he moved quickly into a breezeway and disappeared into one of two apartments within.  The officers moved to the door on the left, from which they could smell marijuana smoke emanating, and began knocking and announcing, “Police!”

It is important to note that in the announce, the police did not “demand entry” or make any other Fourth Amendment references.  This would prove crucial in the U.S. Supreme Court’s examination of the facts.

The officers could “hear people inside moving” and “things…being moved around in the apartment.”  Fearing the destruction of drug evidence, the officers entered the apartment, under exigent circumstances, and found respondent Hollis King, his girlfriend, and a guest inside.  The guest was smoking marijuana.  None was the controlled buy suspect.

During a protective sweep, more marijuana and crack cocaine were seen in plain view.  Searching further, crack cocaine, narcotics paraphernalia, and cash were recovered.  Police later found their original drug suspect in the apartment on the right side of the breezeway.

Hollis King was charged with trafficking in marijuana, trafficking in a controlled substance, and persistent felony offender status.  A motion to suppress the evidence was filed, but was denied in a Kentucky Circuit Court and then in the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

In both the Kentucky Circuit and Appeals Courts, the police officers’ actions were upheld as proper under the exigent circumstances rule.

The Kentucky Supreme Court reversed, and suppressed the evidence in the case, ruling that “it was reasonably foreseeable that the occupants would destroy the evidence when the police knocked on the door and announced their presence” which itself created the exigency.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 to overturn the Kentucky suppression.  Justice Ginsburg was the sole dissenting opinion.  In the Opinion of the Court, written by Justice Alito, it affirmed three areas of exigency that permit a warrantless entry into a home.  While the Court only touched on “emergency aid” and “hot pursuit of a fleeing suspect,” at issue in Kentucky v. King is the exception “to prevent the imminent destruction of evidence.”

Justice Alito wrote that lower courts have imposed further requirements to the exigent circumstances rule.  The U. S. Supreme Court rejects those restrictions.  Simply listed, they are:  “bad” faith, reasonable foreseeability, probable cause and time to secure a warrant, and standard or good investigative tactics.  In each of these requirements, lower courts have added upon law enforcement additional legal burdens that are not recognized by the Supreme Court with regard to exigent circumstances.

Quoting Graham v. Conner, the Court cited “the calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments—in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving.”

Ultimately, the Supreme Court articulated that in Kentucky v. King, the exigency of the possible destruction of evidence did exist and that it was not created by the officers’ knock and announce at the door.  The ruling was reversed and remanded for further proceeding in Kentucky.

It is interesting that this type of Fourth Amendment judgment was so overwhelmingly supported by seven of the Justices.  I find it refreshing that it seems to hold accountable the actions of the suspects, in refusing to answer the door, for directly contributing to the circumstances that brought about a lawful warrantless entry.

Randall is a twenty-three year sworn police officer in a mid-sized Florida police department.  He has been an FTO, K9 Handler, Detective and SWAT Team Leader.  He is currently the Midnight Shift K9 Sergeant and department SWAT Coordinator.

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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!

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.

Think about it for a second…  A jury has convicted someone for a crime. But, rather than sending them to prison, we just send them home.  Yeah…that will teach them!

Case in point: a knock and talk I did Saturday night.  While riding through a neighborhood looking for an armed robbery suspect, a man flags me down.  He tells me about his niece who has “rocks and weed” all over the coffee table. She also owes him money, but I’m sure that did not have anything to do with why he flagged me down.

So, a couple of officers and I go by the apatment.  I knock and she answers.  I introduce myself and she invites us in.  Once inside I ask “Got any drugs?”  She says “Yep…got a pile of weed over there,” and points to a pile of weed that was, in fact, over there.

I ask “Is this your purse?”  She says “Yep.  And those pills are ones that my girlfriend gave me for my toothache.”  Uh-huh.

I say “You are under arrest.”  She says “There is cocaine in my bra.”

I inquire about the lovely, state required, bracelet around her ankle.  She tells me that she was on probation for cocaine and pills, but was caught with more cocaine and pills.  So, the court sentenced her to house arrest as a punishment.  “How very effective,” I say.

So, I carry her down to the jail with three new drug charges.  But, get this, being arrested while on house arrest does not net you a “no bond”.  In other words, she can immediately post a bond and walk right out of jail.  I get the deputies to max her bond which totals a mere $10,750.  Of course, I am hoping that will keep her in jail until the next morning when a judge can review the case and her status and “no bond” her.

Well, the judge did see her the next morning…and promptly reduced the bond to $5,500.

Sometimes, I don’t know why I bother to go to work.

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.

Seems pretty straightforward, right? Not so fast.

Think about it. Meth production is a deadly undertaking. Nasty things like phosphene gas are common by-products of methamphetamine production. Police officers walking into that environment can become very dead, very quick. Us beat cops can’t just walk in there…we would likely become victims also.

So, the solution is: the firefighters with their respirators and haz-mat gear go in and get the ‘victims’ out. Well, not really. Remember folks making meth tend to be violent criminals. They like to fight, have guns, and are generally anti-social. Firefighters going into that situation are in danger from the victims.

What is the solution? Pre-planning, flexibility, and a great deal of cooperation between agencies.

Working out the possible responses with the likely responders (PD and FD, for example) ahead of time, is a really smart move. This allows everyone to critically think through possible problems, iron out differences in policies between agencies, and gives everyone a baseline to work from when they get on scene.

What kind of training and equipment do the beat officers and other first responders need when they arrive on scene? Figure out what resources and skills you need…and are reasonably expected to be available…and work up a plan. The world’s best equipped and trained clan-lab team is worthless in the situation I responded to if they are 30 minutes or more away. The people inside will be long dead before they pull on the first leg of their nomex suit.

The DEA and regional drug task forces offer training in clan-lab response. Sending a few selected police officers and fire fighters to these classes can give them the information they need to design a workable response plan.

However, the guys on the ground have to be flexible and willing to cooperate to get the job done.

In my call, the firefighters were willing to work with us and we got the call done as safely as possible under the conditions. Was it perfectly safe? Nope, and that is what we work on for next time.

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.

However, Tasers are not 100% reliable. For the Taser to work properly there has to be a completed circuit with electricity flowing through a wide section of muscle mass. The failure of a Taser to effectively work can happen if only one probe hits the suspect, or the probes land too close together, or there is a faulty battery, or thick clothes do not allow the probes to get close to the skin. I’ve seen Tasers fail to incapacitate in each of these situations. The point is: the X26 is effective but not 100%.

There is an understandable reluctance by police officers to use deadly force. Cops are not evil people and they do not want to harm or kill anyone. So, many times when a police officer faces a situation in which deadly force is the appropriate level of force, the officer may hesitate or seek some other lower level of force, which generally decreases their own safety. While in some respects this is admirable, the fact is the officer must survive and win the encounter, not just for his or her own well being, but for the community as a whole. For if the officer is incapacitated or killed due to their attempt at a lower force option, their killer is now free to harm other innocents…perhaps even with the officers own weapons.

If a police officer encounters a suspect armed with a deadly weapon, the officer’s appropriate response will be deadly force, not a Taser. A suicidal subject armed with a knife or a gun needs to see the business end of your AR, shotgun, or pistol…not the blast doors of a ‘green’ X26 cartridge. If you have appropriate deadly force cover (say your two zone partners are in a position of advantage covering the suspect with .223 rifles), then you might –in certain circumstances– attempt to use a Taser to subdue the suspect. The idea is that your backup can employ deadly force should the Taser attempt go wrong.

Keep in mind that the vast majority of us have Taser cartridges that are good to a maximum of 21′ or 25′. Perhaps 21′ sounds familiar? That distance should be known to all police officers as it relates to the Tueller Drill. The Tueller Drill was developed by Sgt. Dennis Tueller of the Salt Lake City PD. Sgt. Tueller discovered that an average person could cover 21′ and begin stabbing an officer in 1.5 seconds: the same amount of time an officer could draw his weapon and put a round on the threat. That, of course, does not take into account that a fatal shot is not likely to instantly stop the attack.

So, if you encounter a violent subject armed with an edged weapon AND you have lethal force cover AND you want to try to use a Taser, you better hope it works. If it doesn’t, you will likely have a subject on top of you in less than two seconds. Your partners better be very accurate and very quick. Even then you stand a pretty decent shot at getting hurt.

If the subject has a firearm, you don’t even have 1.5 seconds, as they just have to point and pull the trigger.

So, read your department SOP’s, know your state laws of the use of force, and work out plans with your zone partners before you encounter a deadly force situation in which you may want to try a Taser.

“It’s all about the criminal justice costs associated with criminal aliens,” says Kent Evans, Immediate Past President of the USMBCC and a Dona Ana County (NM) Commissioner. “Any way you look at it, border counties spent more than one billion dollars in less than a decade. That’s a lot of money, money that should have been used to improve schools, roads and public safety in our communities.”

In the study, conducted over a 12-month period by the University of Arizona and San Diego State University, it was revealed that the 24 border counties in Arizona, Texas, California and New Mexico are spending a disproportionate amount of local tax dollars to provide law enforcement and criminal justice services to apprehend, transport and convict criminal undocumented immigrants.

“This updated study effectively illustrates that until our borders are secure and our immigration laws are adequately enforced, many states and localities, particularly in border states like Arizona, will continue to incur overwhelming costs to process those illegal immigrants who commit crimes, or who, sadly, die trying to come to the United States,” said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who secured funding to produce the report.

“This study underscores the unfair and unacceptable fact that border residents continue to pay for our broken immigration policies,” said Congressman Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, TX, a 26 1/2 year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol. “The current approach reflects a lack of understanding of border communities.”

The Coalition asked that the federal government cover three major costs associated with undocumented immigrants who commit state felonies and/or multiple misdemeanors by fully funding the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), the Southwest Border Prosecution Initiative and county law enforcement and criminal justice services. “We are not asking for a hand out,” said Manny Ruiz, Vice Chairman of the USMBCC and a Santa Cruz County (AZ) Supervisor. When federal lawmakers fail to secure our borders, our local taxpayers should not have to pay for the skyrocketing costs.”

The Coalition is a nonpartisan, consensus-based policy and technical forum founded in 1998 to address challenges facing county governments located on the United States/Mexico Border. For a copy of the 155-page report, visit www.bordercounties.org.

The series of articles is published free of charge on the Police Writers website. The articles are both informative and interesting to read. While some authors can give you either a good read or good information, Ferency does both. The articles don’t take long to read, and I think they are more than worth the investment of time.

Stay safe!

As dangerous as the meth lab operation is, for most police officers the danger from meth comes from dealing with the methamphetamine user. Meth users are responsible for violence toward themselves, family members, friends, strangers, and each other. Headlines such as “Father Beheads 14-Year-Old Son” are, unfortunately, a by-product of meth use.

The abuse of methamphetamine tends to go in a cycle, with the user being most dangerous when they are tweaking. During the “tweaking” phase, the abuser is driven into a severe depression, followed by extreme paranoia and aggression. The tweaker’s behavior is very unpredictable, and the effects of tweaking are intensified by other depressants, such as alcohol.

A tweaker may appear normal at first blush. Their eyes are clear and their speech is concise. However, their eyes are moving at about 10 times faster than normal. Their may be a quiver to their voice. Often the tweaker’s movements will be jerky. The tweaker may be saying weird, delusional, or paranoid things.

If you, a police officer, encounters someone you believe is tweaking, here are a few tips that can help keep you safe:

• Get backup enroute. If violence erupts, you want your backup officers already on-scene or already enroute.
• Maintain a reactionary gap. A seven to ten foot gap is a good minimum. This allows you slightly more time to react if the tweaker becomes violent. Almost as important, this does not “crowd” the tweaker. Keep in mind that he is paranoid, and by standing close to him, he feels crowded and his feelings of paranoia are intensified.
• Slow your rate of speech and lower the pitch of your voice.
• Slow your movements. Try to avoid any sudden moving.
• Avoid shining lights in his face. Bright lights can be very frightening to a tweaker. Bright lights can cause a tweaker to spontaneously fight or run.
• Keep the tweaker talking. If he is talking, he is not listening to the paranoid voices in his head. A silent tweaker often means his paranoia has encroached into reality. You are now part of his paranoid delusions, which could mean violence against you is imminent.

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.

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!