If you are a highway interdiction officer in a large metropolitan area, you should be foaming at the mouth with all the opportunities present in your target-rich environment. However, along with those opportunities come a set of unique challenges that the more rural interdiction officer will not have.
A lone highway patrol officer on a large rural stretch of two-lane highway will not have the same challenges you face. He/she may sit perpendicular to the highway and be able to watch each and every vehicle that passes him on a two or three lane interstate, easily identifying probable cause, reasonable suspicion, and pre-stop indicators.
You however, may be on a six- or eight-lane interstate with hundreds of thousands of cars speeding by you. How you pick them out will be your greatest challenge — catching them will be the next. But the benefits could outweigh the challenges, it depends on whether or not you look at the situation from a glass half full or a glass half empty point of view.
Let’s take a look at Dallas, Texas as an example. Dallas is in north Texas, and considered a middle-man hub for large amounts of dope coming up from the border. Large loads pass through here, while others stop here and are broken down into smaller loads to be shipped out.
Dallas has major interstates running up to it from El Paso, Houston, and Louisiana. But it those same interstates — and a few more than lead north, east, and west, all out of the state — that makes interdicting a prime activity.
1.) Know Your Dope Roads
So, with all these opportunities, where should you work? Well, that’s the beauty of it. If I’m an interdiction officer, one day I might want to get on I-45 in the southern most part of the city and work dope coming up from Houston. The next day I might head over to I-30, which is running east out of Dallas going straight to Arkansas. I can tell you a lot of dope gets picked up in Dallas and heads back to Arkansas and Tennessee. The next day I might head over to I-20, which runs to Louisiana, and hit those dope runners hard, or work dope coming into Dallas from El Paso.
The point is to know every interstate in your jurisdiction, where it originates and where it leads to, and to track the drug seizures on those roads that are away from your jurisdiction. If there are quite a few seizures on the same road in the rural areas, I’d hit it hard in the city.
Also, try to set up on the interstate where there are the least options for the suspects to take, don’t set up one mile away from another major multi-highway interchange if possible.
2.) Know Your Pre-stop Indicators
Watch for the same pre-stop indicators as you would if you worked a more rural area, but realize that the sheer volume of cars will make it impossible to look at every vehicle that passes you. Start looking as far away as possible at the vehicles approaching you, so you can pick them out early, enabling you to get out in traffic and stop them.
3.) Be Prepared to Drive Aggressively
Be prepared to use your red/blues, even your siren, to force you way out into traffic much more quickly than a rural officer would have to, it’s critical to maneuver your way through traffic and catch up to the vehicle you are trying to stop before it vanishes into the sea of vehicles.
4.) Multi-member Interdiction Teams
If you are working a multi-member interdiction or traffic team, position yourselves a few miles apart where you can give the description of the vehicle to your partner who can be waiting and watching for it while you are attempting to catch it. Whichever road you choose, I recommend going to the farthest point, or the edge of the city limits to work it.
Once you start knocking down loads in the big cities share that intelligence with the rural guys that work those same roads — effective intelligence sharing among interdiction officers working the same roads is critical, even if it’s just with the next jurisdiction past yours.
Let’s have some Metro Trophy Shots to post on Police1 soon!
Stay safe and happy hunting.
