2 Officer Carstop, should the second officer contact passenger?

[OCEnforcer29]

So we haven't gotten to carstops in the academy yet, so that's why I'm asking here because I'm curious.

I've been on ride-a-longs where the officer and I will make a carstop, and he'll be contacting the driver. Another officer will pull up to back us up, and he will go up to the passenger window. Sometimes they just observe, looking for weapons and such. However, other times the backup officer will contact the passenger, get their drivers license and run a want/warrant check of the person, and just talk to them.

I can see it being good to contact the passenger because they may have warrants, but would it be better to not say anything? Maybe so the driver and passenger don't know you're there? When I was an Explorer and we'd make stops, I'd walk up to the car, and a lot of times the driver and passenger would be looking at the Officer and never know I was standing there.

Thanks for the input.

[FJDave]

You do what your academy instructors tell you to do, and nothing else until you get told differently. Don't make things harder for yourself than they need to be.

And each car stop is different. Go with the flow and do what it takes to get home safely at EOW.

[mikeymedic]

FJDAVE, is correct. We can tell you what we know by the way that we do things on the street. However, in the classroom your instructor may have a totally different way of conducting two man stops.

Personally, I stay by the passenger side and go unnoticed until the guy decides to be a turd to the primary Officer. That's when I make my presence known and they have so far always calmed down....so far.

[Back to NYC]

There are a lot of different tactics for a car stop, but regardless of what tactics are being used...I want my partner silent if I'm talking. If I'm the "contact" officer, I want my partner watching every little thing in that car. I don't want him distracted by conversation with passengers. I want him ready to take action if things so south.

This is for any stop, not just car stops, really. If I'm out on foot and my partner and I stop someone, one of us talks and one of us makes ready to take action, watching not only the subject but also everyone and everything around us (other people on the street, people watching from nearby windows, etc.). It makes things much safer when one person talks and one person watches his back. If everyone's talking, there's room for confusion. Your attention gets focused on the subject and you miss his eight friends approaching you from the other corner of the street, or the nutjob on the third floor of the building you're standing in front of who's getting ready to throw a battery or a bottle at you.

Also, I'd ask the legal issues-type guys at your agency about the legality of running the passenger's DL on a regular traffic stop. Unless he's the one who committed the violation leading to the stop (i.e., you observed litter come out of the passenger side of the vehicle or something), you might be breaking the rules a bit. I know in my state, I can run a person's name without him committing a violation if I reasonably suspect the person has committed or is about to commit a misdemeanor or felony, but that's a little different from running the passenger's name on a stop for a regular traffic infraction.

[OCEnforcer29]

There are a lot of different tactics for a car stop, but regardless of what tactics are being used...I want my partner silent if I'm talking. If I'm the "contact" officer, I want my partner watching every little thing in that car. I don't want him distracted by conversation with passengers. I want him ready to take action if things so south.

This is for any stop, not just car stops, really. If I'm out on foot and my partner and I stop someone, one of us talks and one of us makes ready to take action, watching not only the subject but also everyone and everything around us (other people on the street, people watching from nearby windows, etc.). It makes things much safer when one person talks and one person watches his back. If everyone's talking, there's room for confusion. Your attention gets focused on the subject and you miss his eight friends approaching you from the other corner of the street, or the nutjob on the third floor of the building you're standing in front of who's getting ready to throw a battery or a bottle at you.

Also, I'd ask the legal issues-type guys at your agency about the legality of running the passenger's DL on a regular traffic stop. Unless he's the one who committed the violation leading to the stop (i.e., you observed litter come out of the passenger side of the vehicle or something), you might be breaking the rules a bit. I know in my state, I can run a person's name without him committing a violation if I reasonably suspect the person has committed or is about to commit a misdemeanor or felony, but that's a little different from running the passenger's name on a stop for a regular traffic infraction.

That's good information, thanks everyone.

[BCSD Frank]

Yep. NYC said it well. Most of the time, I'm the Cover Officer. My job is to be silent and cover the Contact Officer, as well as keep an eye on the passengers, look over the interior of the vehicle as the Cover Officer is conducting business, looking for contraband, open containers, weapons, unsecured children, etc.

My job is to provide cover and to be an extra pair of eyes.

[PtlCop]

I believe, but could be mistaken, that there's case law from the USSC that says that we can run the information of people in the vehicles we stop, even if they're not the drivers. I've done this several times, and have gotten several warrants and other arrests out of it, and it's never been questioned.

[District B 13]

NYC,

You are soooo out of the lane. I can run anyone's DL or information on a traffic stop. There is no law against it. There is no privacy. I don't know if you are really a LEO or not, but don't make blanket statments about CA law.

[HEDP]

There are a lot of different tactics for a car stop, but regardless of what tactics are being used...I want my partner silent if I'm talking. If I'm the "contact" officer, I want my partner watching every little thing in that car. I don't want him distracted by conversation with passengers. I want him ready to take action if things so south.

This is for any stop, not just car stops, really. If I'm out on foot and my partner and I stop someone, one of us talks and one of us makes ready to take action, watching not only the subject but also everyone and everything around us (other people on the street, people watching from nearby windows, etc.). It makes things much safer when one person talks and one person watches his back. If everyone's talking, there's room for confusion. Your attention gets focused on the subject and you miss his eight friends approaching you from the other corner of the street, or the nutjob on the third floor of the building you're standing in front of who's getting ready to throw a battery or a bottle at you.

Also, I'd ask the legal issues-type guys at your agency about the legality of running the passenger's DL on a regular traffic stop. Unless he's the one who committed the violation leading to the stop (i.e., you observed litter come out of the passenger side of the vehicle or something), you might be breaking the rules a bit. I know in my state, I can run a person's name without him committing a violation if I reasonably suspect the person has committed or is about to commit a misdemeanor or felony, but that's a little different from running the passenger's name on a stop for a regular traffic infraction.

What?

[pujolsfan146]

Do what your instructor says. He or she is the one who decides if you pass or fail the academy. I can appreciate the question but take it one day at a time and concentrate on what is being taught at the time. You don't want to start jumping ahead of your studies.

[OCEnforcer29]

NYC,

You are soooo out of the lane. I can run anyone's DL or information on a traffic stop. There is no law against it. There is no privacy. I don't know if you are really a LEO or not, but don't make blanket statments about CA law.

Thanks for that updated info for CA.

[leesrt]

On our stops the primary unit is the contact. The secondary officer stays by the passenger fender of the lead patrol car (the one recording) and observes. If I pull someone out of the car I bring him back to the front of my patrol car and the secondary officer observes both him and the other occupant/'s of the car.
I go back and talk to the other car occupant and if I get into a scuffle the secondary officer secures the one at the front of my car. Once hes secured the secondary officer can assist me if needed.

To many times both primary and secondary officer approach togethor. This means that if something breaks out they are both in jeapordy and also have to worry about friendly fire from each other.

When I have another officer meet with me on a traffic stop it's because my spidey senses went of and I have some RS building. We each have a roll to play and it's imprortant that we each cover our area. This way I always know where he is and he always know where I am.

Another nice thing about the secondary officer being at the passenger corner of my patrol car is he can let me know if he see's supicious activity. This is even more important if I innitiate a search. While I'm searching he watches the occupants who are now standing in front of my car, or just to his left. One of them will always give an indication if your search is getting close to the jackpot. He can witness that and pass it on to me. Many times I'll come back to the spot where my secondary officer was and let him go up and search the areas the occupants got nervous about while I was searching. I than take the secondary roll and start observing.

There are many types of approaches and this works for us because we just don't do traffic stops. We work interdiction so we're always looking beyond the stop. Having someone who just observes and knows what to look for is very important.

[mikeymedic]

In Colorado we have the right to ID any and all passengers in the vehicle.

[PtlCop]

The second officer is there to repeat every word the first officer says.

The second officer is there to count how many times the first officer says "meow."

It's very simple.

[BCSD Frank]

The second officer is there to repeat every word the first officer says.

The second officer is there to count how many times the first officer says "meow."

It's very simple.

Shhhh.... That's a tactics secret.