Tucker 1371
New member
*Disclaimer: I AM NOT A LAWYER. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. YOU ASSUME ALL LIABILITY BY TAKING ANY ACTION RECOMMENDED IN THIS POST*
With that out of the way, a little background on me. I work for a Sheriff's Department in East TN. Currently I am a corrections officer, however, I am POST certified (patrol academy) and spent two months in training on the road (FTO). I had some difficulty and was pulled from the program. Hopefully I get another shot at it here soon. On to the point of this thread.
Having been in a patrol officers shoes, however briefly, and having been pulled over while armed, I've developed what I feel to be a fairly effective method of avoiding confusion and unintended violence.
As some of you may know, officers are trained to pay attention to people's hands. The hands are what will kill you is what was beat into our heads in the academy. Should you happen to be pulled over while carrying make sure your hands are visible at all time for the entire event and no matter what, do not DO NOT put your hands anywhere near your weapon. Even if the officer tells you to or that it's ok. My LT in corrections was pulled over by an officer of another agency who told him to hand him his weapon. My LT tactfully declined and suggested that the officer disarm him himself. Hands on/near weapon =BAD. That should be the takeaway from that anecdote.
That brings me to my next point, the officer may ask to temporarily disarm you. This is ok. I know it really goes against your gut and it is a gut wrenching feeling allowing your weapon to be taken and cleared (even for me by another LEO) but this is how the officer ensures his safety and it goes a long way towards preventing the situation from escalating. Please please please just comply. Assuming you're not doing anything illegal you will get your weapon back unmolested, most likely unloaded.
Not all officers will disarm you. I personally didn't like to operate that way but I won't fault someone for doing things their own way. I have my own faults which precluded me from passing FTO. That said, make sure the officer knows the exact location of your firearm(s). For example: "Officer, I am a licensed concealed carrier and my weapon is on my right hip at about my 4-o-clock. I also have a rifle in the green bag in the back floor board." Personally if it were me and the officer told me to keep my weapon holstered but retrieve my identification, which is right next to it, I would request that he disarm me. If he insists on not doing so keep your other hand visible and move slowly and deliberately.
The way I handle a traffic stop is as follows. See blue lights, pull over to the safest area I can find, preferably a parking lot, roll down my window and turn off my engine, lazily place my hands outside the window and wait for the officer to approach, identify myself and follow instructions.
There are probably LEOs on this forum that can provide better information than I and if so feel free to correct me, I welcome any and all input and would like to hear how you, LEO or not, handle traffic stops. Given recent events I believe that this is a subject that needs to be discussed thoroughly without getting into the politics or specifics of those events. I would prefer this remain a general discussion of traffic stop procedures and not delve into any of the recent shootings and certainly not politics. Thank you.
With that out of the way, a little background on me. I work for a Sheriff's Department in East TN. Currently I am a corrections officer, however, I am POST certified (patrol academy) and spent two months in training on the road (FTO). I had some difficulty and was pulled from the program. Hopefully I get another shot at it here soon. On to the point of this thread.
Having been in a patrol officers shoes, however briefly, and having been pulled over while armed, I've developed what I feel to be a fairly effective method of avoiding confusion and unintended violence.
As some of you may know, officers are trained to pay attention to people's hands. The hands are what will kill you is what was beat into our heads in the academy. Should you happen to be pulled over while carrying make sure your hands are visible at all time for the entire event and no matter what, do not DO NOT put your hands anywhere near your weapon. Even if the officer tells you to or that it's ok. My LT in corrections was pulled over by an officer of another agency who told him to hand him his weapon. My LT tactfully declined and suggested that the officer disarm him himself. Hands on/near weapon =BAD. That should be the takeaway from that anecdote.
That brings me to my next point, the officer may ask to temporarily disarm you. This is ok. I know it really goes against your gut and it is a gut wrenching feeling allowing your weapon to be taken and cleared (even for me by another LEO) but this is how the officer ensures his safety and it goes a long way towards preventing the situation from escalating. Please please please just comply. Assuming you're not doing anything illegal you will get your weapon back unmolested, most likely unloaded.
Not all officers will disarm you. I personally didn't like to operate that way but I won't fault someone for doing things their own way. I have my own faults which precluded me from passing FTO. That said, make sure the officer knows the exact location of your firearm(s). For example: "Officer, I am a licensed concealed carrier and my weapon is on my right hip at about my 4-o-clock. I also have a rifle in the green bag in the back floor board." Personally if it were me and the officer told me to keep my weapon holstered but retrieve my identification, which is right next to it, I would request that he disarm me. If he insists on not doing so keep your other hand visible and move slowly and deliberately.
The way I handle a traffic stop is as follows. See blue lights, pull over to the safest area I can find, preferably a parking lot, roll down my window and turn off my engine, lazily place my hands outside the window and wait for the officer to approach, identify myself and follow instructions.
There are probably LEOs on this forum that can provide better information than I and if so feel free to correct me, I welcome any and all input and would like to hear how you, LEO or not, handle traffic stops. Given recent events I believe that this is a subject that needs to be discussed thoroughly without getting into the politics or specifics of those events. I would prefer this remain a general discussion of traffic stop procedures and not delve into any of the recent shootings and certainly not politics. Thank you.