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Cell phone control

Almost everyone we stop, from soccer moms to gang bangers, seem to have a cell phone. I got this great reminder from Street Survival Seminar for Women attendee Kathy Church of the Los Rios Police Department, Los Rios Community College District, Sacramento, CA:

“We now routinely ask the people in the car to not use their phones during traffic stops. If they will not comply, we take the phones and place them not he roof of the stopped vehicle. Area police departments follow the same protocol.

“There’s nothing like having a few cars full of gangbangers showing up behind you patrol vehicle to instill a real respect for the powers of communication. So call in your stop, and backup/drive by is essential. Call in any other vehicles that ‘arrive’ during the stop. From personal experience, the driver/passengers will call everyone from ‘friends’ to ‘parents’ to ‘lawyers’ and turn your traffic stop into a three-ring circus!”

Words to live by Kathy, thanks!

My column is undergoing a bit of an identity crisis. I’ve been writing for the Street Survival “Newsline” and the P1 Newsletter for several years. As a Street Survival seminar instructor, I write about officer safety and survival, but I’m also a supervisor, a mom, a trainer, a cop’s wife, and dare I say, a woman, so I’ve got a lot to say about any number of topics (what woman doesn’t?!), and I’ve always received great feedback from our readers. So when Police One approached me and asked me to author a monthly column dealing with women’s issues, I enthusiastically agreed. “What a great opportunity” I naively thought “to bring issues to light that both women and men in law enforcement could all relate to, perhaps discuss at roll call, and ultimately learn something from each other.” Yeah, just call me Sergeant Pollyanna…I forgot that by calling it a “women’s” column, not only will most of our male readers skip over it, but so will at least half our female readers. What?! Why in the world wouldn’t women read a “women’s” column?! Because, there are a lot of female crimefighters out there like me who have spent a lot of years just trying to blend in, to be “one of the guys” if you will…to be perceived as and conduct ourselves as “warriors,” not “victims.” We don’t want special treatment; we just want to be cops.