As a field supervisor and training officer I constantly find myself evaluating officer safety issues in the field. An area that has become a pet peave of mine is unsafe situations often created by backup officers.
When you respond to assist another officer on a traffic stop, you do him no good when standing outside his passenger window socializing. Not only are the vehicle occupants not being monitored but the primary officer is now distracted by his backup should an incident occur.
Once contact is made, the backup officer should remain in place to monitor occupants. Remember, your partner is depending on you to “watch his back” while he is distracted with issuing citations. My personal favorite is when my backup stands outside my door. Now not only am I not covered and distracted by my partner, but I’m also trapped inside my car should we become engaged by a suspect.
Another area I try to get officers to stay away from is face to face discussions while on calls or violator contacts. When passing on information to your partner, why stand face to face and distract him from maintaining eye contact with suspects when you can relay the same information from behind him after making light contact on his back or shoulder to announce your presence?
This allows your partner to maintain eye contact and may offer an additional advantage of not tipping off the suspect that you are communicating incriminating information about them. When feasible why not communicate by radio even in close proximity? This prevents you and your partner from being easy targets by not standing next to each other.
- Be safe.