by Richard Gallia
We have all seen the videos of the patrolman making a vehicle stop on a possible narcotics violator. The officer suspects that the vehicle contains narcotics and sets out to find them. Sometimes there is success, sometimes there is tragedy.
A typical eleven o’clock news video shows the officer instructing the suspects to exit the vehicle while he opens the trunk or enters the vehicle looking for the drugs. The video depicts the officer discovering the bale of marijuana. At this point the suspects know they’re caught and attack the officer in an attempt to escape. Occasionally the fight ends with the officer being shot or killed. We have all seen the video and it makes us all feel sick to our stomachs.
What can we do about this?
What are some options?
Depending upon where you work will dictate your options. One obvious solution is if you feel that you have a violator, call for assistance before doing your search. This leads to an interesting point. A lot of officers will leave the suspect’s vehicle while calling for cover. I personally felt better staying at the vehicle where I can watch over the suspects and have better control over the situation. I found that if I remained calm but very confident I could keep the suspects under control. This also keeps the suspects from dumping their stash or weapons. If the suspects decided to shoot it out, I could concentrate my return fire into the vehicle rather than having suspects exit the vehicle and run around.
Another reason for staying at the vehicle was that I felt it was safer than reproaching the vehicle and suspects inside. If the suspects were going to shoot it out, this would be their best opportunity. I realize that not everyone works in a situation where there is a cover unit close by, but in today’s world of violent criminals if you suspect drugs, it is worth the wait for a cover unit even if it is not convenient.
At one point I worked in a city that had one patrol officer on each shift. Cover had to come from the county units or the city four miles away. This was not an ideal situation, but if cover was really needed you could get it if you wait. Anytime you have suspects exit the vehicle, you increase the risk of attack. For whatever reason, crooks will wait until the last moment before realizing that they are caught. Even though you have stopped them, called for a cover unit, and that unit has arrived they still think that you will miss the drugs and let them go with a citation. The reason for waiting is they have run into so many police officers that don’t look for crimes. These officers are so interested in writing moving violations and computer fishing for warrants that they don’t know what they have stumbled onto. This can make it dangerous for the officer who makes stops specifically to find drugs.
Once these crooks know that the officer who has stopped them is a dope cop, they have to make a mental decision to give up or fight. Much too often today they fight. There is no entirely safe way to have suspects exit the vehicle for a search unless you have several officers for cover, and we know that never happens. However, there are some thoughts about how to make this safer. Our police department was fairly aggressive. If you had probable cause to search the vehicle and limited cover, you could secure the suspects in the police vehicle (after a thorough search) until you were done with the search.
Sometimes circumstances dictated that you had the suspects remain back towards your patrol car while you searched. This may sound stupid to most officers but an in-depth pat down of the suspects before leaving them at your car is a must. In this case, it was the view of patrol that if the suspects ran during the search this was better than having them fight. K-9 guys love this method of search. It is important to remember that as penalties for drug sales and possession increase so does the risk to officers. The crooks know that they will do hard time if caught and are getting more daring in their attempts to avoid arrest.
The dope cop on patrol may make the most felony arrest but he also takes the most risk. Be careful and make it home.