No radio traffic allowed during traffic stops

[headonstraight]

Policy at my new dept: No radio traffic from other units while there is an active traffic stop. (University PD, bout 20k students)

I believe this is in response to an officer that was killed on our campus 5 years ago on a late night traffic stop.

My question is, is this at all common in other small depts? It seems like it would be logistically impossible at a larger dept.

[JW356]

I work in a city of approximately 70,000 people. 100 officers. Yes it would be impossible.

So, when one officer is on a stop on campus, a second officer cannot make a stop while the first is going on?

[Dingo990]

Impossible. We are part of a dispatch group that has 5 cities and 15-30 officers on at any given time. We simply can't hold the air for every traffic stop. Now, if an officer has a funny feeling, he certainly can hold the air. But it is not routine for every stop.

We also have MDTs where we can put ourselves out on calls/stops/run people and a secondary channel for running people over the air, calling for tows, ect. That cuts down on the chatter.

[HEDP]

.

We hold radio traffic for Felony stops and officer needs help calls.



We have 80-100 officers on at one time and holding traffic for traffic stops would be impossible.



We also use MDT's which reduces and eliminates some radio traffic.

.

[Seventy2002]

Sounds like you've got dispatchers who can't multi-task.

[LA DEP]

Would not work here for obvious reasons.....the only time radio traffic is held is with emergent traffic

[MCSD]

Sounds like you've got dispatchers who can't multi-task.

LOL, those don't exist

[Michigan]

Policy at my new dept: No radio traffic from other units while there is an active traffic stop. (University PD, bout 20k students)

I believe this is in response to an officer that was killed on our campus 5 years ago on a late night traffic stop.

My question is, is this at all common in other small depts? It seems like it would be logistically impossible at a larger dept.

Never heard that before. I get what they are doing, it just isn't the right way to go about it. How about a status check every 5 mintues or put two to car. Kinda dumb to stop all radio traffic because of traffic stop. What if somone is on a domestic or other?

[Mr. Green]

At my old station we would hold the radio anytime an agent was on a traffic stop alone. If another agent showed up or if they were being backed up by the local PD, SO, or Highway, etc... They would open the channel. So basically if they were ALONE on a stop they would hold the channel. Granted we didn't do nearly as many stops as a PD or SO etc... would.

[mtxpro752]

The policy will change again when an officer gets hurt over this idiotic policy.

The only times the air is held for LAPD is a back-up request, help call, while someone is running someone over the air or putting out crime info.

We have 21 geographical divisions with thier own frequency, 4 traffic divisions with thier own frequency, air/k9 freq, metro freq and about 25 tactical frequencies.

The only time all frequencies are put on standby at the same time is during a pursuit, if it is a long one communications clears all the frequencies except for the one broadcasting the pursuit.


The first agency I worked for held the air for stops BUT there were only about 4-5 guys out at any given time and stops were actually sorta rare (6-10 per shift) due to not being very proactive and more reactive. Also if the officer on the stop said he was code 4 and the air could be cleared it was.

[major g]

Would never happen here. We get dispatched through the county, 3 (sometimes 2) dispatchers that dispatch 11 LE agencies on 3 channels, a bunch of FD/EMS, and take emergency phone calls. Granted smaller agencies usally have 1 or 2 officers on the road, but a few have 5 or 6 and it adds up.

[BullCity_45]

Seems like there are people who can't competently do their jobs. Then again, campus pd's are a completely different animal.

[dontknowwhy]

I work for a very small campus pd and we do not do this. Only 2-4 work at a time (4 being 2 ofc plus chief and lt). We have 2 channels, the city has 4, the county has 4, then we share 'service' and teletype channels. Plus we have the city and county fd channels and 3 tac.

My old dept had one channel for PD and one for SO, both with 4 people on at a time. During a stop, radio traffic is the same, we just try to let the officer on the stop call in what ever they need too and our shift had an unwritten policy that every stop got an assist headed to them non emergency when others are 10-8

[crass cop]

Policy at my new dept: No radio traffic from other units while there is an active traffic stop. (University PD, bout 20k students)

I believe this is in response to an officer that was killed on our campus 5 years ago on a late night traffic stop.

My question is, is this at all common in other small depts? It seems like it would be logistically impossible at a larger dept.

perhaps you could get emergency buttons instead.

[SgtCHP]

That is why today's communications systems for LE agencies have multi-channel radios. To totally hold radio traffic while one unit is on a stop is ludicrous. What if another unit makes a stop? It would never work with my agency. Your chief needs to get a system that has more than on channel.