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By Mike Rayburn
Police1 Contributor
Cops should NEVER search a vehicle alone. In fact, it should be every street cop’s motto, or creed, or mantra, to never conduct a vehicle search alone. You always want to have a cover officer present, but for one reason or another, these things do sometimes happen, and single-officer vehicle searches do occur. We can all pretend to live in a fantasy land where we always have backup available to us in a matter of seconds, but the reality of the job, especially for some rural agencies, is that backup is sometimes a long ways away, if at all.
The majority of us, especially in these tough economic times with cutbacks, ride in single officer patrol units. Even those of us who are working drug interdiction and conduct vehicle searches all the time, sometimes don’t have the luxury of always having a cover officer. If a cover officer is available, and it takes 30 or 40 minutes for them to get there, then wait for it. The courts have consistently ruled in our favor that time waiting for an additional officer was not excessive if the officer can articulate the reason for the delay.
Be patient, and wait for your backup to arrive before conducting any searches. It has been on the FBI’s warning list of Fatal Tendencies of Officers Killed for a long time — “failure to wait for backup.”
If your backup is coming, wait for it. You’ll be safer for it.
Your Divided Attention
This article should in no way be construed as condoning single-officer vehicle searches, but if you’re going to do them — and I’m willing to bet that most, if not all of us, can think back on a vehicle search we conducted alone — then there are things you can do to make yourself safer on the street. Your safety should always be considered before conducting any vehicle search, whether with or without a backup officer. Understanding some of the disadvantages of single-officer vehicle searches, will help you in recognizing and overcoming some of these obstacles.
You need to understand that you are at a tactical disadvantage right from the start, because your attention will be divided between the suspects and the vehicle, with the majority of your attention focused on the suspects and not the vehicle search you’re trying to conduct. No matter how hard you try, you simply can’t have total focus on two different things at the same time. Your vehicle search, at best, is only going to be a cursory search of the common areas.
Think of it as a “look-see” and nothing more, you’re not going to be able to conduct the thorough, systematic, search that you should be doing. The chances are that you’re going to miss more than you’ll see, that’s why you should wait for your backup if it’s on its way. Why allow this bad guy to slip through your fingers because you were impatient and failed to wait for a cover officer. Or worse, why get hurt because you failed to wait for backup to arrive.
If no backup is available, and you’re going to be stubborn about this and search the vehicle anyway, then proceed with extreme caution. Advise dispatch of your intentions and have them alert the other officers in your area. One of them may decide that what he or she is doing really isn’t as important as they first thought, and will break away to back you up. If so, then put your plans on hold and wait for them to arrive before you start your search.
Search Subjects First
Before conducting any vehicle search — with or without backup — always conduct a pat down of the vehicle’s occupants first. Have them exit the vehicle one at a time and pat down each one individually for weapons. Can you pat them down? Of course you can, if you can articulate why you did it. We have to assume that you’re searching the vehicle because you suspect criminal activity is afoot. It can’t be a hunch; you have to have solid facts as to why you suspect criminal activity is occurring, and how the vehicle is a part of that criminal activity. Never attempt to search a vehicle with the occupants inside of it, always have everyone exit the vehicle, and pat search everyone.
Since you are working without a backup officer — or what Calibre Press likes to call “NBA” No Backup Available, then you need to adopt Cover Officer Positioning. What exactly is Cover Officer Positioning? Think back on what a cover officer does: maintains a position of surveillance and control, watch for attempts at hiding/destroying/discarding evidence, personal cover if it’s available, a safe background for shooting, peripheral view of the surrounding area, and on and on. Since you’re working without the benefit of a cover officer, you have to assume both roles; Contact Officer and Cover Officer.
At this point, we’ve done everything we can to make us as safe as possible, short of having a cover officer present, so now it’s time for the search itself. Resist the temptation to do what is commonly called the “blind feel.” That is a technique where you watch your suspect(s) and blindly feel around with your hand inside the vehicle. You always want to look before reaching into any area. Bad guys have been known to strategically place fishhooks and razor blades to intentionally injure officers. By attempting to conduct a “blind feel” search you are just asking for trouble.
If you have a caged unit, have the suspect sit in the rear of your cruiser. Make sure you don’t close the rear door all the way to the point where it locks, as the suspect has to be able to cancel his consent search, in order for it to be a valid one. If the door is closed and locked, as most rear cruiser doors are, then the search may be ruled as invalid as the suspect was unable to communicate to you that he wanted to take back his consent to the search of his vehicle.
Another tactic is to have the suspect stand several feet in front of his vehicle. During daylight hours have him face away from you and his vehicle. At night, have him face his vehicle to ruin his night vision and to somewhat blind him with the headlights. Turn on his high-beam lights and direct your spotlight on him to help conceal your movements and position. If there is a natural barrier, or a manmade one like a guardrail, have him stand on the opposite of the guardrail; anything to give you a little more reaction time. As you conduct your cursory search, be sure to glance up at the suspect a number of times. If he’s moved, disengage your search and be very cautious.
If you’re a K-9 officer and conducting a single officer search, put your dog in the guard position. Better yet, have the suspect sit on his hood with his feet up on his front bumper, and then put your dog in the guard position. Even if you don’t have a dog, this is still a tactical option as you’ll be able to feel his movement if he suddenly gets down from this “perched” position. Again, this gives you some reaction time.
Since distance is our ally, have the suspect walk up the road a short distance. Obviously, this can invite an escape attempt, so use your best judgment. On a back country road with nowhere to go, this is a valid tactic. In an urban environment you’re just asking for the guy to get away from you. But then again, if you’ve positively ID’d the guy, and he runs, you can always get a warrant if your search of the vehicle turns something up. The more distance between you and the suspect, the more reaction time you’ll have.
Safety is Paramount
Once again, you should never search a vehicle alone, but if you’re going to do it, use your head and keep some of these tactics in mind as you do it. You have to ask yourself some very basic questions: Is this little bit of marijuana worth losing some teeth over? Is this truckload of cocaine worth losing my life over? The answer to both of those questions in a resounding NO! If this individual is a bad guy today, he’s still going to be a bad guy tomorrow, next week, or next month. Only next time you’ll have a cover officer present and be in a better position to search his vehicle.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with waiting for another day. After all, you have the next ten, twenty, or thirty years to catch him again.
