Blue Sheepdog

If you have been on the job for very long at all, you will have discovered that seemingly ‘routine’ traffic stops can go bad in a heartbeat.
The driver I stopped the other day for a minor tag violation had his child’s lunch box in the car with him. Only this little girl’s lunch box […]

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I am a huge supporter of using the passenger side approach on traffic stops. From the passenger side, I have seen drugs, guns, and other things that I would not have seen from the driver’s side. It is possible that the driver’s side approach has saved my bacon before. However, on Friday […]

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Police officers engaged in drug interdiction and criminal interdiction are constantly finding new hiding places that criminals use to hide their drugs, weapons, and other contraband.
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 […]

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Vehicle Stop Interdictions: Drug Interdiction for Patrol is one of more than 40 police training courses offered to law enforcement officers by The Backup Training Corporation. Focusing on highway drug interdiction, the CD-based course covers all of the bases for an officer who is serious about stopping the flow of drugs on the […]

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One of the things that really gets me upset about a lot of the firearms training given to police officers, is the concept of a static officer vs. a static target. You know the training I mean: the officer stands on the line, waits for the command, draws his firearm, and shoots a […]

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In a lot of spy movies, the hero’s car is often equipped with all sorts of gadgets designed to make espionage easier.  One of those often seen gadgets is available for your local criminals for less than $100.
The Plate Flipper is a device that installs behind the license plate of a car or motorcycle.  When […]

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Traffic stops have been called the “bread and butter” of police work. Even in the busiest jurisdictions, police officers regularly make traffic stops for traffic violations. Proactive officers can use these encounters to detect criminal activity beyond the simple traffic infraction.
Regardless on the reason for the stop, there are certain things a police […]

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Ok, this has got to be the weirdest thing I think I have ever heard found on patrol. A Texas police officer located more than 20 embalmed heads during a traffic stop. I’m glad it wasn’t me…
ROYSE CITY, Texas (AP) — A traffic stop in Texas yielded about two dozen embalmed heads. But […]

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Police officers engaged in drug interdiction quickly learn that experienced dealers and traffickers never drive a car they own when moving their product. Criminals have learned to bypass the asset forfeiture laws by renting a car, and moving the drugs with the leased vehicle. If stopped, the dealer may lose the product, but […]

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Imagine this: you make a traffic stop for a minor infraction, and you discover the driver doesn’t speak very much English. You do your best to explain the infraction, and they provide you with a multi-fold paper document labeled “International Driver’s License.” The document has a passport-style photograph of the driver, and […]

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Several years ago, I read an article called “Use of Force and High Intensity Tactical Police Flashlights: Policy Concerns.” Since then I have seen it re-printed in various other locations.
In the article, R. Paul McCauley, Ph.D., a criminology professor at a Pennsylvania university, opines that

the use of high-intensity tactical police flashlights (HITPFs) is a […]

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Making a so-called routine traffic stop poses a lot of potential hazards for a police officer. Officers rarely know the occupants of the vehicle, or what danger they may pose. So, academies and department in-services teach their officers safety and survival skills to give the officer the best possible advantage when dealing with […]

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In the excellent book, Tactics for Criminal Patrol : Vehicle Stops, Drug Discovery and Officer Survival, Charles Remsburg attempts to impress on police officers the idea that each and every traffic stop may lead to interdicting a larger crime if you look for it. The concept is simple: most criminals use cars to move […]

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