Shanks, Shivs, and Sliming

female prison dorm

 

Life behind the bars and miles of looping razor wire of our country’s prisons and jails is not an easy existence. Not only do the inmates have to deal with the emotional stresses associated with being away from their families and homes, they have to adjust to living inside a six-by-nine concrete box. Sometimes, they even share that claustrophobic enclosure with one or two other prisoners.

Tensions can run high as the men and women in these institutions struggle to survive.  Sometimes, they find themselves fighting for their very lives. To assist them in their efforts to stay alive, inmates make weapons out of whatever materials they can find.

Prisoners are quite creative it comes to making their weapons. They’ve used material such as, toothbrushes, metal of any kind, rocks, glass, wire, newspaper, plastic, nails and screws, ping-pong balls filled with lighter fluid, bars of soap, padlocks, and even human feces.

A weapon made from a nail and electrical tape.

 

 

A large spike wrapped with tape and string.

Three nails and a piece of steel make for a nice punching/stabbing weapon.

A shank made from a piece of plastic. Tape is wrapped around the handle.

Stabbing, cutting, puncturing, and striking weapons.

Inmates often fill toothpaste tubes with feces and urine. Then they squirt the foul mixture on passing guards, or other enemies. This is known as sliming.

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Friday’s Heroes: Remembering The Fallen

Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

 

The Graveyard Shift extends our condolences to the families of the officers who sacrificed everything to keep us safe.

Officer Jennifer Lynn Sabena, 30

Wauwatosa Wisconsin Police Department

December 24, 2012 – While working the midnight shift, Officer Jennifer Sabena stopped to take a short break at a local fire station. As she exited the building she was ambushed and was shot twice in the back of the head. The suspect then took the officer’s service weapon and used it to shoot her three more times. The shooter was her husband. He has since been arrested and charged with murder.

Corporal Jimmie Norman, 53

Bellaire Texas Police Department

December 24, 2012 – Corporal Jimmie Norman was shot and killed while attempting to take a combative suspect into custody. A civilian who tried to assist the officer was also shot and killed.

Officer Norman is survived by his wife and children.
*123 officers have lost their lives in the line of duty this year. 47 of those have been killed by gunfire.

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The Thompson Sub-Machine Gun

Chicago Typewriter

 

This is what it looks like to peer down-range from behind a Thompson fully-automatic sub-machine gun. You can actually see a spent cartridge ejecting at the lower right-hand side of the picture, just above the major’s right elbow.

The Thompson is an extremely heavy weapon that’s capable of firing 600-900 rounds of .45 caliber ammunition per minute. And let me tell you, that’s fast. The experience of firing one of these babies is like no other. I took this photo and was peppered with gunpowder during each burst of gunfire, even from the distance where I stood, which was as you see it. I didn’t use the zoom.

We took this shot in a controlled situation while wearing full protective gear, and employing other safety precautions. I say this because I don’t recommend this method of photography. It’s not safe. Gee, the things we do for research.

The Thompson was extremely popular in the 1920s among both law enforcement and gangsters alike. The notorious John Dillinger and his gang amassed an arsenal of these “Chicago Typewriters.” The FBI and other agencies, such as the NYPD, also put Tommy Guns to use in their efforts to battle crime. In fact, the weapon became so popular in law enforcement circles it earned another nickname, The Anti-Bandit Gun.

Here’s a brief video of the Thompson, complete with a 100 round drum magazine, in action.

Imagine one of these in the wrong hands.

 

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Gun Violence: Is There A Solution?

Gun violence

We had out-of-town friends visit us yesterday, and it was embarrassing, and sad, that we had to advise them against following GPS directions in order to avoid certain areas of the city. But, it was a necessary evil due to the number of seemingly random shootings that have occurred there over the past few months. Of course, several of the gang-related killings were accidental shootings—the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time. But dead is dead, no matter how the unfortunate person became a murder victim.

Our police chief seems to be doing everything humanly possible to combat the gun violence, including assigning a special task force to work nothing but gang-related crimes. He’s saturated the trouble areas with patrol cars, officers on foot, undercover officers, and more. He’s even asked council to approve the hiring of dozens of new police officers. The same is true for surrounding jurisdictions.

Still, the shootings continue…and continue, and continue.

For example (just this week alone):

– local deputies conducted a traffic stop where the driver jumped out of the van and began firing a revolver at the officers.

– narcotics agents arrested a drug dealer who was carrying a .22 pistol containing a 100 round magazine.

– a man came home for the holidays, and then shot and killed his mother before taking his own life.

– a man walking in a local park was robbed at gunpoint, and after handing over his money, he was shot by the robber. The victim, a convicted felon, then pulled his own weapon and returned fire.

– a man broke into a local residence and forced the homeowner to the floor at gunpoint.

– a man walking down the street on his way to a store was shot and killed.

– a man dressed as Santa Claus robbed a downtown bank at gunpoint.

– a suspect wearing a black hoodie robbed a grocery store at gunpoint.

The good news is that our overall crime is down from 2011. The bad news, though, is that gun-related crime is up—over double the number of the same type of crimes in 2011.

So what’s the answer? After all, the chief of police in our city has already attempted, with no luck, to reduce gun-related crimes by increasing the number of good guys with guns.

Will new, more restrictive gun laws do any good? How about banning large capacity magazines?

If more restrictions/laws are enacted, will the bad guys then suddenly come to their senses and begin obeying the law? Will they stop using high-powered rifles with 100 round magazines, and pistols with 30 round capacities, as their murder-weapons of choice?

Honestly, I don’t see a good, solid solution to the problem. However, I know we have to do something, and we have to start somewhere. But where?

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Josh Moulin: Before The Blue Lights – Traffic Stops, Part II

Josh Moulin: before blue lights

In my previous blog, The Importance of Traffic Stops, I discussed some of the reasons why law enforcement conducts traffic stops and provided some real-life examples from my career. In this blog I am going to talk about the mechanics of traffic stops and the decision process an officer goes through before ever turning on the emergency lights.

Before ever conducting a traffic stop, an officer must be intimately familiar with their traffic codes, to the point of memorizing them. An officer has to know what is and is not a violation before pulling someone over and that information comes from the traffic law. Officers must also keep up with the ever-changing case law as it relates to traffic-related enforcement and searches. Beyond legal requirements, officers must know their beat and jurisdiction like the back of their hand. If a simple traffic violation becomes a pursuit, the officer must know where to direct other units, how to create a perimeter, and anticipate the offenders next move. Officers must also know where large parking lots are, where roads widen and narrow, and where people congregate. The last thing an officer wants to do is pull over a stolen car or dangerous felon in a school parking lot.

Once an officer finds either probable cause or reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle, the officer must first decide if they want to take action. An officer has discretion on what to enforce and what not to enforce and officers always notice violations that they don’t take action on. For example, an officer assigned to DUII enforcement that notices a family driving through town that appears lost and failed to signal a turn is most likely not going to stop them. On the other hand, the driver that is traveling ten miles per hour under the posted speed limit and driving without headlights at night is guaranteed to meet the DUII officer very quickly.

As soon as the officer decides they are going to initiate a traffic stop, the officer has to decide whether they want to immediately stop the car, or watch it for a while. Sometimes watching a vehicle to gather additional evidence is advisable as long as it is not putting the general public in further harm. An officer may also need to overtake the vehicle and do so in a manner that the driver does not realize they are about to get pulled over. The element of surprise is very advantageous to the officer; the more time the driver has to think, the more time they may have to plan an assault against the officer. On occasion I have had people just pull over as soon as they saw me either turn around, or pull out of the area I was sitting. They knew they were guilty and they weren’t going to make me chase them down. I always appreciated that and was a little less worried about those individuals than the ones who immediately increased their speed as soon as they noticed me notice them.

The emergency lights have still not been activated yet as there are more decisions to make. The officer must determine where they want the car to stop. Obviously the officer has no control over this, but they will try to wait until the vehicle is in a safe place to conduct a traffic stop. This is generally not on the top of an overpass or in the middle of an “s” curve, but somewhere that provides the officer and violator plenty of room to pull over safely and be out of traffic. This is not always possible and sometimes violators will travel a long distance before they notice the police car behind them, especially with all the distractions like cell phones, iPods, loud stereos, and passengers.

Now that the officer has decided to take enforcement action and is close enough to the vehicle to read the license plate, the officer must pre-plan where the traffic stop will occur and radio in the stop to the dispatch center. I always told dispatch where my stop was going to be before I ever turned on my lights. That way, if things went immediately bad, at least dispatch knew where I was generally. I knew some officers that would pull over a vehicle, make contact with the violator, and then notify dispatch they were on a stop. This is extremely poor officer safety skills; if anything happened to that officer before they radioed out on the stop who knows how long it would take to find them.

                                          Typical dispatch center console

Each jurisdiction is a little different, but for me my radio transmission would be something like this:

Me: “519 traffic stop.” (519 was one of my radio identifiers. Radio ID’s or call signs could be another blog post all its own)

Dispatch: “519.”

Me: “519, Oregon Adam Baker Charles One Two Three, East Main and Mountain.” (This is the state the vehicle is registered to, license plate of the vehicle in phonetics, and the location and cross street of my stop).

Dispatch: “Copy 519.”

At this point, dispatch would be running the license plate as fast as they could to see if there were any officer safety alerts about the vehicle (stolen car, stolen plates, other alerts) and they would also run a check automatically on the registered owner of the vehicle since it is most likely the driver. No news was good news from dispatch on this check and dispatch is trained to leave the officer alone for the first few minutes of the stop. (Side note – If dispatch doesn’t hear anything from the officer within five minutes of the stop they begin to do status checks. If the officer doesn’t answer the status checks, backup officers are sent to check on the officer). If I heard dispatch calling me within one or two minutes, I knew something was wrong with the vehicle or registered owner. Sometimes this message wouldn’t get to me though until I already had the car pulled over.

                 Officer calling into dispatch on their mobile radio

As soon as I radioed in the plate and my location I was ready to turn on my emergency lights. I would activate all of the necessary switches and if at night, would turn on my takedown lights (forward facing white lights on lightbar) and my spotlight as the car was stopping. Notice I never mentioned the siren. Contrary to many shows and movies, an officer doesn’t turn on the siren right away and usually only if the vehicle is failing to yield to the officer. Proper lighting at night allows an officer to see into the vehicle better and blinds the vehicle occupants so they don’t know where the officer is standing.

Once the lights are activated, this becomes the most critical time in the stop. The reaction of the driver is completely unpredictable and the officer must be ready for anything. Will the driver speed up and the chase is on? Will they immediately slam on their brakes and stay in the middle of the road? Will they drive for the next two miles and not even notice the police car even with the siren on? Or, will they calmly pull over to the right and stop? I’ve had every one of these scenarios happen to me. The officer has to be prepared for anything. If the stop actually ends up far away from the original location, the officer should immediately notify dispatch of their updated location.

As the car begins pulling over and slowing down the officer should be getting ready to exit the patrol car as fast as possible. The driver’s seat of a patrol car is called the “coffin” during a traffic stop and no officer should ever sit in the driver’s seat during a stop. It was my practice to take off my seatbelt once we hit ten miles per hour and at five miles per hour I had my hand on the drivers door handle. As soon as we stopped I could position my car, put it in park, set the parking brake, hit the door unlock button and be outside the vehicle all in one smooth motion. If the driver jumped out and started shooting at me or charging me, I was immediately able to protect myself.

Now that the car is stopped things get more serious. At night, I would always pause and watch what is going on. Sometimes I would walk all the way around the trunk of my car and stand on the passenger side and just watch the occupants if I was worried about something. I also did this so I never crossed in front of my headlights or takedown lights, giving the vehicle occupants an idea of where I was. I have had everything from people jumping out of the car and running, drugs being thrown out windows, and people coming out of the car and physically fighting me. I also knew whether or not my offender was “well versed” in police procedure if as soon as the car stopped everyone inside had his or her hands up. If I felt uncomfortable about a traffic stop, I would request a backup unit on the radio.

While I approached the vehicle, my hand was always on my weapon. I wore a triple-retention holster for my Glock model 22, meaning it took three steps to unholster the gun. As I walked up, I always released one of the safety mechanisms so I could draw faster, but it was still relatively safe from getting taken in the event I got into a physical fight with an occupant. My favorite way to approach a vehicle was from the passenger side. In the daytime the vehicle occupants can watch the officer approach the car which is much more dangerous. At night I would try and sneak up on the driver and could usually watch the driver for a few seconds from the passenger window until I knocked on it to get their attention. On several occasions I saw people hiding drugs, guns, and other evidence while they were waiting for me to get up to the vehicle, not knowing I was already there. I also liked mixing it up a bit. I would first approach the passenger side, get their license, registration, and insurance; then after I checked those with dispatch back at my car, I would walk up to the driver’s side. This time I could get a better look at their eyes and could smell them and the vehicle better for things like alcohol and drugs.

This is the style of holster I wore – a level III retention for the Glock with the tactical light attached.

If I returned to my patrol car for any reason during the stop I would stand behind my passenger door to give me some cover. This way I could watch the vehicle while checking for warrants on the vehicle’s occupants and/or while I was writing a citation or waiting for a cover unit. Another option is to get away from the patrol car and take cover behind an object nearby, such as a tree or other barrier.

At the conclusion of my stop I would provide the driver with their information back and either issue the citation or give them a warning. It was always my rule to give a ticket or a lecture, but never both and I always treated offenders with complete dignity and respect. When I walked back to my vehicle after releasing the driver, I would always look over my shoulder while walking back to my car in case the driver or other occupants tried to get out. I would get back in my car and wait for the driver to get back on the road and never drive past the driver, especially if they were extremely upset. This way the driver could not shoot at me while I drove past them. I would advise dispatch that I was clear of the traffic stop and go on my way.

The above scenario is a typical “unknown-risk” traffic stop. A high-risk traffic stop has a few more moving parts and requires some additional tactical planning.

A high-risk traffic stop is used for a variety of reasons, most of which involve the driver being suspected of committing a felony. High-risk stops are most commonly used when stopping stolen vehicles, vehicles occupied by individuals who are wanted for committing a dangerous crime, or at the conclusion of a pursuit. High-risk stops should always be done by at least two officers and preferably with three or more.

When an officer determines they are going to initiate a high-risk traffic stop, the best practice is to follow the suspect vehicle until at least one or two more backup units are behind the first police vehicle. This may mean that the lead officer is following the suspect car as the other units are traveling code-3 (lights and siren) to catch up. The responding back-up officers will make sure to turn off all lights and siren way before the suspect vehicle could see or hear them coming up behind.

The lead officer will announce where the stop is going to take place (again, hoping for the driver’s cooperation) and also let dispatch know they are conducting a high-risk (sometimes referred to as a felony) stop. High-risk stops should be made in large unpopulated areas if possible to minimize collateral damage if shooting takes place. When all of the units are ready, they will activate their lights. If personnel exist to do so, a unit will find a way to block traffic in front of the stop, but out of bullet range so bystanders aren’t driving through the stop.

The radio traffic would be similar to this:

Me: “519, units will be initiating a high-risk traffic stop at 8th and Lincoln, clear the channel.”

Dispatch: “Copy 519. All units, all units, 519 and units are out on a high-risk traffic stop at 8th and Lincoln, channel is emergency traffic only.”

Clearing the channel means that only those involved in the serious emergency can talk on the channel and other units not involved must go to a secondary channel for normal business.

The units would have coordinated on the radio who was going to do what. For example, the lead officer will direct one unit to either come up next to the lead officer’s vehicle at the stop (called a fanning stop) or pull in behind the first car (called a stacked stop). Officers have certain duties and places to stand during a high-risk stop that is drilled into them during training.

                                    Typical fanning approach to a traffic stop

All officers will have their guns drawn and pointed in a “low ready” position toward the vehicle. Some officer may have their handguns and some may have shotguns or rifles. Usually the lead officer will begin giving the vehicle verbal commands either by yelling or using a PA system. Typical commands including “This is the ABC police department, everyone put your hands up.” Commands would continue to have the driver turn off the car, give the driver instructions on what to do with the keys, and then bring each person out one-by-one. After the last know person is out of the car the officers will “challenge” the vehicle again, assuming that someone is hiding in the car. The officers will then advance on the vehicle and search it inside as well as in the trunk for any other suspects.

Hopefully these blogs have been useful and shown that a traffic stop is much more than just driving up behind a vehicle and turning on the emergency lights. Officers not only have to worry about the vehicle occupants, but also about other traffic. In 2011, eleven law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty from being struck by a vehicle and 140 officers have lost their lives to this in the past ten years.

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Josh Moulin

Josh has a long history of public service, beginning in 1993 as a Firefighter and EMT. After eight years of various assignments, Josh left the fire service with the rank of Lieutenant when he was hired as a police officer.

Josh spent the next eleven years in law enforcement working various assignments. Josh worked as a patrol officer, field training officer, arson investigator, detective, forensic computer examiner, sergeant, lieutenant, and task force commander.

The last seven years of Josh’s law enforcement career was spent as the commander of a regional, multi-jurisdictional, federal cyber crime task force. Josh oversaw cyber crime investigations and digital forensic examinations for over 50 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Under Josh’s leadership, the forensics lab was accredited by the American Society of Crime Lab Directors / Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB) in 2009.

Josh has been recognized as a national expert in the field of digital evidence and cyber crime and frequently speaks across the nation on various topics. He has testified as an expert witness in digital forensics and cyber crime in both state and federal court on several occasions. He also holds a variety of digital forensic and law enforcement certifications, has an associate’s degree and graduated summa cum laude with his bachelor’s degree.

In 2012 Josh left law enforcement to pursue a full-time career in cyber security, incident response, and forensics supporting a federal agency. Josh now leads the Monitor and Control Team of a Cyber Security Office and his team is responsible for daily cyber security operations such as; incident response, digital forensics, network monitoring, log review, network perimeter protection, and firewall management.

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Friday’s Heroes: Remembering The Fallen

Friday's Heroes - Remembering the fallen officers

 

The Graveyard Shift extends our condolences to the families of the officers who sacrificed everything to keep us safe.

Patrolman Martoiya Lang, 32

Memphis Tennessee Police Department

December 14, 2012 – Patrolman Martoiya Lang was shot and killed while she and another officer served a search warrant for narcotics. She is survived by her four children.

Deputy Sheriff Christopher R. Parsons, 31

Washington County Missouri Sheriff’s Office

December 15, 2012 – Deputy Christopher Parsons responded to a 911 call about an unconscious woman. As EMS personnel loaded the patient into the ambulance, her son exited the home with a rifle and fired a single round, killing the deputy. Deputy Parsons had served only two months with the sheriff’s office before his death.

Patrolman Angel Garcia, 27

El Paso Texas Police Department

December 16, 2012 – Patrolman Angel Garcia was struck and killed by a vehicle as he was removing a ladder from the roadway.

Corporal David Gogian, 50

Officer Jeff Atherly, 29

Topeka Kansas Police Department

December 16, 2012 – Corporal Gogian and Officer Atherly were shot and killed while checking on a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of a local grocery store. While speaking with the occupants of the car, one of them began firing a weapon, fatally wounding both officers.

Officer Sean Louis Callahan, 24

Clayton County Georgia Police Department

December 18, 2012 – Officer Sean Louis Callahan was in foot pursuit of a man who turned and fired a weapon, striking the officer in the head, twice. Officer Callahan was transported to the hospital where he succumbed to the gunshot wounds the following day.

*45 police officers have been shot to death in 2012.

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The Patrol Car: An Officer’s Mobile Office

Patrol Car: Mobile Office

Patrol cars serve many purposes. Obviously, they’re an officer’s means of transportation, but they’re also used as mobile offices, equipment haulers, cover during gun battles, barricades, emergency warning devices, temporary jails, cafeterias, and communication centers.

Cars driven by civilians aren’t all that much different than a police car. Although, police vehicles do have heavier suspensions, and they’re fitted with larger alternators because of the extra electricity that’s need to power all the radios, lights and sirens. Heavy-duty brakes are installed on patrol cars since quick, hard braking is often required during pursuit driving. Some police cars have coolers on the transmission lines. Other than that, they’re basically equipped the same as any other automobile.

Patrol cars are meant to be highly visible. They’re usually marked with the department’s reflective logo and they’re equipped with some sort of emergency lighting system. Some departments use rotating halogen lights while others prefer flashing strobes. Many agencies use a combination of both. Each jurisdiction has its own rules regarding light color—usually red, blue, or a combination of both. In most areas of the country, the law prohibits citizens from possessing a blue light.

Light bars are positioned on the top of a police car and stretch from one side to the other. They’re held in place by a bracket attached to the inside of the upper door frames. A hole is drilled into the car top creating a passage for light’s wiring harness. The hole is waterproofed using a rubber grommet and silicone sealant.

Each light bar is equipped with colored warning lights, and spotlights aimed to the front, rear, and sides. The side spotlights are called alley lights. Front-facing spot lights are called take-down lights because they’re often used during high-risk traffic stops—“taking down a suspect.”

low-profile-light-bar.jpg

Low profile light bar equipped with flashing strobe lights. It’s called a low profile light bar because it sits low and tight to the car roof. People often mistake it for a luggage rack. The deception sometimes allows the police car to approach without being detected as easily as a police car with a taller light bar.

light-bar-side-view.jpg

Alley light

Most patrol cars utilize a center console that houses radio equipment, light switches, siren switches, portable radio charger, remote radar controls, and a public address system.

Equipment in the console above starting at the top:

PA system 

Department radio capable of muti-jurisdictional communication

Lights and siren control panel

Radar unit

Remote radar control

Top right – personal police scanner for monitoring fire and rescue

The rear seating area of a patrol car serves as a mini jail cell. The window and door locks and controls are disabled to prevent escape. Heavy metal and plexiglass screens divide the front and rear compartments. The rear seat in the patrol car below is made from hard plastic. This allows for easy cleaning (Drunks tend to make a big mess. Yes, patrol officers are often required to clean their own cars). Some cars are fitted with a drain plug in the rear floorboard. This makes it easy to “hose down” the rear interior in the event of an extreme mess.

backseat.jpg

Rear compartment of a patrol car.

Shotguns are mounted in the front compartment of patrol cars. Some departments prefer an upright mount near the dashboard. Others prefer a mount behind the driver’s head. Both are kept locked at all times. To unlock the shotgun, officers press a concealed button in or near the center console area.

shotgun-mounting-bracket-2.jpg

Shotgun mount.

I’ve included this photograph as a quiz. Can anyone identify the round, white object? Hint…there’s at least one in almost all police cars.

Fun fact – The sheriff’s office in Hinds County, Mississippi has added an all electric 2012 Nissan Leaf to their fleet of police vehicles. The battery-powered car will be used for community outreach.

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The Newtown Rifle, And Ammo

Newtown Rifle

The AR-15-type rifle, like the rifle used in the recent Newtown school massacre of young children and adults, is an extremely popular firearm. So popular, in fact, that approximately 1.5 million were manufactured in the past five years. According to an ABC report, that’s one assault-type rifle per 209 Americans.

Bushmaster is the company name of one manufacturer of firearms and accessories. It was one of their rifles that Adam Lanza used last week to slaughter innocent children and adults. I have to say, though, that the brand name of the rifle had nothing to do with the murders. It could have just as easily been a rifle made by any of the other manufacturers.

To see and learn how these rifles operate, you can visit the Bushmaster website for a complete listing of Bushmaster products. While there, you may also visit an interactive demonstration of how the rifle works. Click the link below to view the Bushmaster rifle demo. Once on the site, I suggest clicking on the “glass” view to see the internal workings of the weapon as it cycles through the loading of the magazine and firing of a round.

http://www.bushmaster.com/anatomy_bushmaster.asp

The .223 caliber round is an ammunition of choice for these “assault rifles.”

Guns America image

There are many types and brands of ammunition on the market. For example, Dynamic Research Technologies (DRT) manufactures a .223 round (bullet) that has the appearance of a standard bullet on the outside, but internally is like no other. In fact, a Guns America article states, “Through hard surfaces, from bone to sheetrock to windshields, the DRT rounds apparently behave like any other .223 round. But 2″ into liquid or organic matter, they come apart and fill the wound channel with a small cyclone of spinning powder. This completely disables the target, causing an immediate loss of blood pressure and overwhelming trauma.”

By the way, the organic matter stated in the paragraph above…well, that’s a nice way of referring to flesh and blood.

How deadly is .223 ammo? One hunter needed only a single shot from a distance of 179 yards to kill a 350 pound wild boar. So, what would that same round do to a 45lb. human target, at close range?

Here’s another fact about .223 ammunition of any kind or brand: Those children and school employees in Newtown never had a chance.

I know nothing about DRT. Theirs was the first name I came across when researching this article. There are many more. Also, I have no idea of the brand or type ammo used in the Newtown shooting.

Here’s a couple of questions for all of you. Do you think magazine capacity should be limited to fewer rounds? Would it make a difference if they were?

*By the way, this article is not intended as a discussion about gun control. Instead, it is for informational purposes to assist writers who seek to bring an added level of realism to their stories. So you can stop the hate mail. I’m not biting. I do, however, wish there was a solution to the worldwide violence problem.

Top photo – ABC

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Rick McMahan: Unfulfilled “I Wishes”

Rick McMahan

As I sit here the day after a heinous act of violence happened in Connecticut, I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that someone would target young children.  This blog is usually about cops and criminal procedure. Our make belief world of murder and mayhem has been swamped in a tide of terror that isn’t make belief. That isn’t entertainment. That isn’t easy to put aside. 26 people were massacred at a place once thought safe and sacred—an elementary school.

Like everyone else, I’m sure, we all are reading and seeing this event unfold with heavy hearts and even tears in our eyes. Like other cops, when you watch the news, your mind is filtered with your experience and training, so, I found myself focusing on the first responders. Maybe I was trying to look and evaluate based on my professional experience in hopes that this mind game would distract me from a full realization of the evil that had been wrought. If so, I was wrong. My heart broke with each image. Still I focused on the first images of the first responders at the Sandy Hook elementary school.

I wondered why there were so many firemen at the scene. So many trucks, so many of them so quickly in their red shiny trucks and polished helmets and cleaned up turnout gear. Only later, did I learn that this fire station was literally around the corner from this school, and that the firemen were suppose to be selling Christmas trees that evening to raise money.  When I learned that the Sandy Hook was the neighbor of the firehouse, I knew, just KNEW, those firemen knew those kids faces and many by name. I’m sure that with a fire station so close it was an easy trek over, or just a phone call got the shiny truck and smiling firemen to talk to the kids. Those firemen personally knew most of those tiny victims.  Those men and women were watching “their” school wrecked by horror.

Then I saw the ambulances and EMTs. Most of their machines were silent, and there was no frantic rushing around.  I imagine that all of those EMTS wish they could be trying to save lives and not just stand there aching and silent.  If the EMTS are tending people there’s hope of life. They were still, and this told me it was beyond awful in that school.

And of course, there were my brothers and sisters in blue. Oh so many cops came. Uniformed officers, plainclothes. State, local and federal.  Cops with guns drawn moving through the parking lot and the school looking for evil, hunting for people to save. Cops leading lines of little kids out of the school to safety.  A state Trooper holding the hand of a child, the child swaddled in a police jacket. An image of a cop from my own agency in his bullet proof vest, gripping an M4 and a stern set of his jaw as he leads a man and a child down the road.  I don’t know that agent, but the look on his face seemed to say, “No one, no one will harm this child.”  His face was set in a hard line like he was trying to clench his teeth until they cracked.  On TV he looked menacing, but I bet his face belied the pain in his gut and the clenched teeth were to hold back tears.

I’m sure every cop at that school had lines running through their head—

“God, I wish I could have gotten here sooner. I wish I had traffic stopped this guy before he got here and he and I had it out on a roadside. But not here.”

“I wish I could have been here to take a report or to drop off a ham when this guy came.”

“I wish today could have been show and tell with my K-9?”

A cop’s life is full of unfulfilled “I wishes.” We’re not super heroes or have a bravado that we think we’re invincible. On the doors of our patrol cars it says “To Protect and Serve.” That’s not a saying, it’s a belief we hold in our heart.  All of those cops wish they could have been there to protect those teachers and those children. I know to a man and woman that if asked, they would, without hesitation say they would go back and be at that front door and confront that gunman, no questions asked. Knowing full well they might not make it out, every cop would take that chance in the hopes of stopping evil, even if it meant giving up their own life to do so.

Like I said, a cop’s life is full of unfulfilled “I wishes.”

All first responders’ professional lives are full of unfulfilled “I wishes.”

We don’t always get to do what we want to do. But we still have to serve. We do what we can.

The EMTS couldn’t save lives. They took their stretchers with such small burdens and kept the lost ones company on their last ride.  The firefighters weren’t letting smiling kids wear their helmets and sit in the big red trucks. Instead, they offered their home to the families of those children, giving them a place to grieve.

Instead of protecting innocence, the cops in Newtown were left to document terror. They were left to photographed and diagram a crime scene in a place that should never have crime scene tape hung. Their bullet proof vests and guns were of no use. Those stern looking cops who tightly held machineguns now tenderly grip little hands as they walk kids to their loved ones. The cops not knowing how to answer the little one’s questions.  Those cops’ badges and uniforms and even their dark sunglasses couldn’t shield them as they looked into the expectant faces of parents knowing they were issuing a life altering words, even as they opened their mouths and uttered the horrible words.  Those cops spoke soft words and watched as hope fled peoples’ faces to be replaced by a pain no one should feel. The cops could only watch as mother’s world imploded or as a grown man openly wept and collapsed. They cops couldn’t protect. All they could do was serve. Do their duty. And ache.

As a cop and a father, my heart breaks at every image I see of the people terror stricken and overcome with grief as they learn they lost their young angel. I see the dumbfound expressions of ordinary citizens aching for their friends and neighbors and the look of ‘why would anyone do this’ and why would this happen—and in my head it echoes the same.

You’ve read my ramblings. I don’t know if it says much about cops and crime fiction. It does say a lot about evil that visits our world every day in large and small ways and the men and women who see it up close. And it says a lot about victims and families.

Now, go find someone you love.

Hug them.

Hug them tight and keep them close.

Tell them you love them.

God Bless.

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ATF Special Agent Rick McMahan

Rick McMahan is a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The year 2012 marks his twentieth in law enforcement. Rick’s work wakes him to counties across central and southeastern Kentucky, including Bell County, the area featured in “Moonshiner’s Lament.” His mystery stories have appeared in various publications, including the Mystery Writers of America anthology Death Do Us Part. He also has a story in the International Association of Crime Writers’ forthcoming collection of crime fiction from around the world. In his free time, Rick enjoys writing, and he’s had short stories appear in anthologies such as Techno Noire, Low Down & Derby and the Mystery Writers of America’s Death Do Us Part edited by Harlan Coben.

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Josh Moulin: The Importance of Traffic Stops

Josh Moulin: Traffic Stops

Throughout my law enforcement career I made thousands of traffic stops.  Although the words “routine traffic stop” are commonly used in the media, I can say without hesitation that there is nothing routine about a traffic stop. Traffic stops are an extremely effective tool for law enforcement in a variety of situations, but also one of the most dangerous aspects of an officer’s job.  Most of my traffic stops were never an issue, however during my career I was assaulted during a traffic stop, had to use physical force on several of them, and came the closest ever to using lethal force during a traffic stop.

Traffic stops fall into one of two categories: high-risk and unknown-risk, and each are approached differently.  From an outside perspective traffic stops seem relatively simple; get behind the violator, turn on the emergency lights, and make contact with the driver.  In reality, a tactically sound officer must make multiple split-second decisions before ever turning on the emergency lights.

Traffic stops are used by law enforcement for much more than catching speeders on the freeway.  Some of the most common uses of traffic stops include:

*  DUII enforcement

*  Criminal investigations

*  Traffic enforcement

*  Interdiction stops

Depending on the size and composition of a law enforcement agency, they may or may not have a dedicated traffic division.  Police officers assigned to a traffic division are usually on motorcycles or specialized police vehicles that may be marked or unmarked and equipped with moving and handheld radar systems, in-car video systems, and e-citation equipment.  The mission of a traffic unit is to reduce traffic related injuries and deaths by the enforcement of traffic laws.  Traffic officers usually do not get assigned traditional “cases” or investigations with the exception of traffic related crime reports including hit and run, vehicular assaults and deaths, and DUII. Some law enforcement agencies are almost completely traffic oriented, such as a highway patrol office where nearly all of their officers are assigned to traffic enforcement.

 

Police motorcycle, radar control head in center of console above

Traffic stops are not just limited to officers who are part of a traffic team though.  Officers assigned to regular patrol use traffic stops to also enforce traffic laws as well finding DUII drivers, wanted individuals, or to show police presence in a particular area.  Often, agencies may assign “saturation patrols” to an area that is having crime problems and one aspect of the patrol will be to stop everything moving in that area that can be lawfully stopped.

When I was a brand new officer, I thoroughly enjoyed traffic enforcement and would generally make between 20 and 30 traffic stops per shift and issue around 15 to 20 citations per day.  Using radar/lidar and watching for people running red lights were some of my favorite things to do early in my career.  My agency did have a dedicated traffic team, but on day shift there wasn’t much else to do and often traffic stops led to other, more exciting things (more on this later).

After working my first three months of day shift, I realized I preferred working the graveyard shift and spent the remainder of my patrol career working nights.  I quickly learned that traffic stops at night were much more complex than the daytime and done for an entirely different reason.  Daytime traffic enforcement lends itself well to catching speeders, people that aren’t wearing their seatbelt, and other traffic violations.  It also gives the officer a good view into the vehicle to see the number of occupants and identify the driver.  There were certain “regulars” that I knew had a suspended drivers license so when I saw them behind the wheel it was automatic probable cause (PC) to stop the vehicle.  This was also true for seeing people that have warrants for their arrest.

Night traffic enforcement on the other hand was completely different.  Sure, people still sped and ran red lights, but I didn’t spend my shift sitting and waiting for those to occur.  The graveyard shift was home to a different clientele and one that demanded my full attention.  At night an officer cannot see into the vehicle and it is difficult to see whether or not someone is wearing his or her seatbelt.  Nighttime though brings equipment violations such as inoperable lighting that aren’t available during the day.  As a young officer on graveyard, I played the numbers game.  I would stop as many vehicles as I could in hopes that statistically I could find something bigger, something criminal.  I was less interested in issuing citations and more interested in getting the truly bad people off the streets and traffic enforcement was a great excuse to chat with people and get a look inside their car.  I can’t tell you the number of times I stopped a vehicle for an inoperable license plate light and ended up with a major arrest.

 

Night stop – notice the curtain of light used by the officer

As I began to get more seasoned and found out what to look for, the number of traffic stops I made reduced greatly as my arrests increased.  I would generally make three or four traffic stops per hour, but almost every one would result in an arrest or criminal investigation.  I also learned patience.  When I would see an unoccupied stolen vehicle or vehicles in front of a bar near closing time, I would sit and wait for those vehicles to go mobile.  As soon as they did I found PC to stop the vehicle and I got my arrest.  This is where my traffic stop focus went from traffic enforcement to a criminal investigation.

An officer has the legal authority to stop a vehicle when he or she believes they have probable cause (PC) that a crime has happened, is happening, or is about to happen or has reasonable suspicion that the driver has committed a traffic violation.  PC and reasonable suspicion are two important legal terms and mean two completely different things (which could be a blog post in itself).  There are also exceptions to the fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution when it comes to searching vehicles for evidence of a crime when that vehicle recently has been or current is mobile.  All of these issues must be well known to law enforcement officers as traffic stops and evidence seized as the result of a traffic stop are hotly contested issues in court and result in many motions to suppress evidence and case law decisions.

Interdiction stops are another form of traffic stops used by police.  During interdiction stops, police are trained to look for certain things that are known to be consistent with criminal activity (usually narcotics).  This may be a vehicle registered to certain states, time of day for travel, vehicle make/model, driver characteristics, and more.  When an officer finds a vehicle that matches what they are looking for, the officer attempts to find a legal reason to stop the vehicle and then conducts a traffic stop.  The sole purpose of the stop is not to issue a traffic citation, but to get into the vehicle and search for evidence of the crime they are after.

Officers have the legal authority to search a vehicle under many circumstances.  The easiest and most often used tactic to get into a vehicle is through consent.  Amazingly, I rarely had people tell me “no” when I asked if I could search their person and their vehicle.  An officer needs to have an articulable reason for asking to search.  For example, when I stopped a vehicle and noticed the driver was exhibiting signs of recent methamphetamine use, I would ask them to perform Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs).  If the driver didn’t have enough physical impairment to arrest for DUII, but still exhibited signs of drug use, I would ask them permission to search their vehicle.  Nine times out of ten I located their drug kit under the seat or somewhere in the vehicle filled with needles, spoons, lighters, pipes, and drugs.  Had the driver been arrested for DUII, I would now have the legal right to search the vehicle based on the search incident to arrest rule.  Officers can also apply for search warrants to search vehicles, or sometimes can just search them without a warrant or consent if they believe the vehicle was just mobile and contains evidence of a crime.  The courts call this the “automobile exception rule” and the searches are allowed because vehicles by their very nature are less private than someone’s home and preserving evidence in a vehicle can be challenging.

 

 

Some of my classmates practicing field sobriety tests at the police academy – 2001

This blog hopefully gives you some background on how law enforcement uses traffic stops as a tool to find criminal activity and protect their communities.  In my next blog segment, I will discuss the mechanics of a traffic stop and what is going through the police officer’s mind at the time.

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Josh Moulin

Josh has a long history of public service, beginning in 1993 as a Firefighter and EMT. After eight years of various assignments, Josh left the fire service with the rank of Lieutenant when he was hired as a police officer.

Josh spent the next eleven years in law enforcement working various assignments. Josh worked as a patrol officer, field training officer, arson investigator, detective, forensic computer examiner, sergeant, lieutenant, and task force commander.

The last seven years of Josh’s law enforcement career was spent as the commander of a regional, multi-jurisdictional, federal cyber crime task force. Josh oversaw cyber crime investigations and digital forensic examinations for over 50 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Under Josh’s leadership, the forensics lab was accredited by the American Society of Crime Lab Directors / Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB) in 2009.

Josh has been recognized as a national expert in the field of digital evidence and cyber crime and frequently speaks across the nation on various topics. He has testified as an expert witness in digital forensics and cyber crime in both state and federal court on several occasions. He also holds a variety of digital forensic and law enforcement certifications, has an associate’s degree and graduated summa cum laude with his bachelor’s degree.

In 2012 Josh left law enforcement to pursue a full-time career in cyber security, incident response, and forensics supporting a federal agency. Josh now leads the Monitor and Control Team of a Cyber Security Office and his team is responsible for daily cyber security operations such as; incident response, digital forensics, network monitoring, log review, network perimeter protection, and firewall management.

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