Archives
Now you see it; now you don't!
It never ceases to amaze me.
The level of intelligence criminals have on average is street smart at best.
After a nice long weekend my first day back on the road was the same as it is every single day I start my week out again.
I’m looking, no, I’m hunting for some narcotics or weapons.
I keep my eyes open looking for that car that’s out of place or the driver that gives me that side glance which screams ‘guilty’.
The squad picked a ‘box’ to patrol today that we normally get a lot of weapons out of so I felt that I’d at least get one gun today.
A ‘box’ is literally a box we pick out on the map of our district and we stay in that ‘box’ so we’re close together and can get to each other quickly for safety purposes.
After stopping several people and cars I found a whole lot of nothing. With only 2 hours remaining in my shift I was starting to feel like I didn’t accomplish much and decided to stop one last car.
He blew a stop sign and I was quite a bit aways from him so I didn’t hit the gas hard or make it look like I was going to stop him, instead I just kept a visual on him for several blocks until he hit the main thoroughfare and then I got behind his car.
I hit my lights to signal the traffic stop and he looked up in his rear view mirror while not stopping and pulled a gun from his waist band, leaned over and put the gun in the glove box and then decided it’d be time to pull over, several blocks from where the initial stop was supposed to have been.
I got out of the car knowing he was going to jail.
The only question was if it would be for a gun or some narcotics.
Walking up to the car I smelled the weed he’d probably finished smoking a little while earlier but I didn’t pay that any mind.
Me : “Partner, step on out and talk with me a bit”
Subject : “Alright, no problem Officer”
I knew he’d want to get out of the car. People that hide items in their vehicles hopping the Police won’t find them love to distance themselves as much as they can from the item. It makes them feel more secure that they Officer won’t find it.
Ha.
Me : “You don’t have any weapons on ya right? I just want to make sure so we’re both on the same page”
Subject : “Naw man, you’re harrassin me now. Whats this all about? I didn’t do anything!”
I didn’t even have to try to push his ‘guilty’ button.
People that know they have something on or near them immediately get angry when you ask about it. That’s how people give themselves up all the time. First indication that they need to go into cuffs, because the next step is fight or flight.
Fight or Flight is what automatically happens to everyone when placed into a situation where danger may be present or you’re forced into a mental box.
The person instinctively chooses one of those options and from there how it manifests itself could be physically or mentally.
Example, Officer sees a guy stabbing his girl friend, Officer gets out and approaches the man with his gun drawn. The man sees the Officer and immediately chooses one of those two options. He’ll either choose to fight, and charge the officer or stand in a fighting stance or he’ll choose flight, at which point he’ll take off running.
Example, Detective has a subject in custody reference a Murder. During the interrogation the subject is asked directly, “Did you kill the person”. If he chooses Fight, mentally he’ll prepare himself to challenge the question, maybe by asking a question in return: “No, Did you? Maybe you killed her” or if he chooses Flight, he’d answer it something to the effect of, “I wasn’t even in the state.” and distance himself as far away from the crime as possible. He even may not answer at all.
The guy I was talking to was told to put his hands on the car and back up. He complied and I made him backup to the point where he was off balance almost bending fully over. I then made him widened his stance so his feet were very far apart, taking him completely off balance. This was a setup for the cuffing.
I removed one pair of my hinged cuffs and brought his right hand behind his back. After getting him into custody and placing him in my car I went to his glove box and there, sitting clear as day was the gun I saw him stash.
Bingo.
I took him down and finished all the paper work just before it was time to go home.
Tomorrow I’ll repeat the same cycle and go for it again.
Comments