My first traffic stop while carrying

[armedcitizen]

I got pulled over this morning on the way to work for crossing the double yellow line--it was either that or rear end the guy in front of me that couldn't figure out where to turn! Anyway, when I pulled around the guy, I saw the cruiser in my rear view and sure enough he hits the lights.

Now in Ohio, CCW holders have to tell officers that we're carrying when we are stopped for a traffic offense. So, I pull over and lower the window and keep my hands on the wheel. Smithy 65 is on my right hip, wallet is in left hip pocket. Officer approaches and explains why he stopped me. I told him I was a permit holder with a firearm and asked what he wanted me to do, keeping my hands on the wheel the whole time. He simply asked for my id--I gave him DL and CCL and he returned to his cruiser. Returned very quickly, returned my two ids, thanked me for my cooperation and we both went on our way.

My hat is off to the Columbus OH PD.

 

[TheFederalistWeasel]

What!?!?!?


You mean he didn’t hold you at gunpoint until the SWAT Team could arrive and disarm you?

Man, I gotta report this clown to the JBT Commission ASAP!


Amazing ain’t it, what happens when you are polite, courteous and completely upfront with a cop when he/she pulls you over for what you admit was a traffic violation and not a fishing expedition.

Our usual response is polite, courteous and completely upfront with you.

If a man or woman takes the time in GA to hand me a CCL ( in GA you don’t have to tell the cops anything) and is polite towards me as I conduct my business unless you are DUI or wanted your riding with a quick warning and a have a safe day from me. I got real criminals to harass.

 

[thumbody]

Weasel
The reason he was probably expecting the worse is we have LE members on this site who advocate disarming citizens who have a ccw liscense (after they have informed they are carrying).

 

[AirForceShooter]

Florida

here in fla (I'm on the west coast)I'm not required to advise an officer stopping me that I'm carrying, but I do.
I don't like surprises and I'm sure the LEO standing by my car doesn't either.
Never had a problem and worst I got was a written warning.
Is it possible a CCW is a get out of jail free card?
Oh yeah, I'm always nice, afterall I did do something dumb to get stopped in the first place, except for the DUI check point.

AFS

 

[jwoods]

Improper Backing

I am a permit holder and also live in FL. I was recently traveling down 20th street at about 25 mph and was pulled over when a SUV soccer mom almost hit my truck. This may not sound like a stop worthy offense to you ,but officer Mason thought otherwise. His problem with the situation was not the near collision or even my speed, but the fact that both happened while I was making a turn in reverse (I was trying to avoid a congested intersection by ducking down a side street.) I too stopped my engine and kept my hands on the steering wheel. After telling me why I was stopped, I explained to officer Mason my intentions, and he took my DL and returned to his truck (K9 unit). He returned with a warning for "improper backing". I too give credit to my matter-of-fact demeamor, and one more thing, an NRA sticker on my back glass.

SEAN

-Be Reasonable, Do It My Way-
Uknown

 

[duckslayer]

Is it possible a CCW is a get out of jail free card?

Ha! Not in McKinney, TX.

That was from a motorcycle cop, however, and one of our resident LEOs said to buy a lotto ticket if you ever only got a warning from a motorcycle cop.

 

[Nimble1]

I was stopped by a local speed trap(no excuse, I was 5mph over) last year.
In Fla. we are not required to inform the officer that we have a CCW and I didn't. When I went to get my insurance card from the glove box, he noticed a Beretta 21 in it ( this is legal in Fla even without a CCW). I then told him that I had a CCW and showed it to him.He got really jumpy and went around to the passenger's side and reached into the car and removed the pistol. The really scary part was when he tried to unload the gun and was obviously not familar with how to do it. All he had to do was tip the barrel foward but he took the gun off safe and racked the slide.He then went to his car with the gun and I guess checked it out to see if it was stolen.
I guess that I should have informed him at first but I'm not sure that he would have reacted any different.Did I do wrong??

 

[jwoods]

Nimble1

Nimble1, if you reach toward a weapon of course the cop will get jumpy, no matter what your intent. If you have to get your registration and there's a firearm on top of it you should have told the officer before you reached.

Pine Island, I have family on Pine Island!

SEAN

 

[El Rojo]

When I went to get my insurance card from the glove box, he noticed a Beretta 21 in it...Did I do wrong??

Yes you did wrong. Lets be frank, you put yourself in jeopardy and the officer as well. You should never reach for a gun or anything containing a gun during a traffic stop. That is just plain stupid. You should have told the officer, "Sir, I have a CCW permit and my Beretta 21 is in the glove compartment with my insurance card." At that point he still might have given you the fifth degree or he might have said, "Don't worry about the card, just leave it in there." Reaching for your glovebox and the officer seeing a pistol in there is just plain dumb. Please chock that up to a learning experience and don't do it again.

My procedure for traffic stops is as follows.

1. Have your registration and proof of insurance handy where they can be reached and produced within 5 seconds so you can have them before the officer even gets to the car.

2. Get out your drivers license and have it out before the officer gets to the window.

3. Regardless of you carrying or not, when the officer approaches the car, have it turned off and your license, registration, and insurance card in your hands and your hands on ten and two.

4. Be polite and be honest.

I have been pulled over four times and have zero tickets. The last time I was carrying and the officer knew I was because I had followed the procedure above. He did not ask if I was carrying and after looking at my license, he sent me on my way. Total time of traffic stop, about two minutes, if that and that inlcudes top to stop and time for him to get to the window.

How did I know he knew I was carrying? I didn't know it at the time, but my buddy from high school was his partner that night and he just stayed in the car. That buddy came by the other day and we were talking about it and he said they knew I was carrying by my papers being out and ready and my hands on ten and two and his partner assumed I worked for a PD somewhere.

I personally look at traffic stops as a dangerous situation. I take steps to reduce that danger for myself and the officer. I pull over where we can get out of the road as much as possible. This keeps us both safe as you have seen the numerous reality video shows where drunks smash into cars on traffic stops and just miss killing the officer and usually end up injuring the people in the car. I don't go digging around for my documents especially if I am carrying as a trigger happy cop might shoot first and ask questions later. The vast majority of cops are not this way, but we would be fools not to recognize there is the possiblity there they might feel threatened. If they shoot you and then they find a gun in the car, you are dead and it is their word against your dead body. Either way you are dead and it won't matter much. Why take the risk?

 

[Molon Labe]

My hat is off to the Columbus OH PD.

I would revise this to say, “My hat is off to the officer who pulled me over.†Otherwise you’re implying that all Columbus PD officers would have been this courteous.

 

[carebear]

Well, obviously they're better than the cops in the whole state of Michigan.

 

[TheFederalistWeasel]

The thing that you must understand about LEO’s and traffic stops is fairly simple.

It’s the way we are trained, we watch countless videos of traffic stops that go bad, most break bad in a matter of seconds, others it builds over a short span of time. When we do officer survival courses we again are shown these tapes and spend countless hours Monday morning quarterbacking.

There is no such thing as a routine stop, there are felony stops and unknown risk stops.

Traffic stops are inherently dangerous for a multitude of reason, from the geography of the area around the stop, to traffic conditions to the person or people inside the car. All of these are relatively unknown variables, which must be discovered and handled quickly in most cases.

This “training†goes along way when cops end up shooting people on traffic stops who end up being unarmed, because they were just plain stupid and felt they did not need to do what the officer was telling them to do such as keep your hands where I can see them.

I’ve had to fight several on traffic stops, which erupted when they jumped out of the car and became irate over the fact they had been stopped. It’s worse with young black males who feel that everytime they get stopped it’s only about race, they end up going to jail because the want a confrontation just to prove their point that we only want to take them to jail.

There is some messed up psychology here but just ask any cop how most of his traffic stops go bad and people end up going to jail and I’d bet you a steak dinner that most will tell you the same or similar.

I actually hate working traffic, it’s a pain in the @$$ and is the result of 90% of all complaints out OPS fields about all of our officers. But the politicians see us as a revenue generator, a de facto taxman with a gun and powers of arrest, they demand the same from our higher ups who return and place the burden on the Deputies and Patrolmen.

 

[bubbygator]

I believe the Florida computer system shows CCW when the tag is called up.

I have my CCW permit taped to my DL so the LEO knows I'm not trying to hide anything. Of course, hands at 10 & 2 & be polite.

 

[armedcitizen]

The reason he was probably expecting the worse

Just to clarify, I wasn't necessarily expecting anything bad to happen, I just wasn't sure what to expect, not having been pulled over since I started carrying.

 

[TallPine]

1. Have your registration and proof of insurance handy where they can be reached and produced within 5 seconds so you can have them before the officer even gets to the car.

The dashboard on my old PU is sun-cracked so I have one of those soft covers on it. I put my registration in the little slipcover that the insurance co gave me, and slid the whole thing (reg & ins) in under the dash cover right in front of the steering wheel. I wouldn't have to lean over or anything if I ever got stopped (it's been over 20 yrs now).

But the politicians see us as a revenue generator, a de facto taxman with a gun and powers of arrest, they demand the same from our higher ups who return and place the burden on the Deputies and Patrolmen.

With all due respect, I have to say that's part of the reason for some folk's bad attitude.

 

[TheFederalistWeasel]

With all due respect, I have to say that's part of the reason for some folk's bad attitude.

Then please go and raise hell with the elected officials they tend to listen to hoards of angry voters as opposed to whinny cops.

 

[TallPine]

Hey, TFW - don't take it out on me. I just stated my observation.

In the local case, we don't have an "elected" official - because the sheriff was recalled about 8 months ago, and we have the undersheriff appointed as acting sheriff for almost 2 more years until the next election.

And a couple of the deputies quit over that fiasco so now they are really understaffed. Hooray for small town gossip and backstabbing

 

[XLMiguel]

I've been stopped 3 times in the eight years I've had a VA CWP. Twice it was almost cordial, 'thank you for telling me, slow down, have a nice evening'. The last time the guy was 'professional' but curt, and frankly a bit of a horse's backside. I bolted to avoid a bimbo on the phone weaving on the Dulles Toll Road about 3 PM - he wrote me for exceeding the speed limit and failing to signal a lane change. He apparently didn't see the dumbich. While I explained why I did what I did, I didn't see the point of arguing. His job is to call 'em like he see 'em. This particular officer is a well known hardcase, and in fact, I did accellerate hard and changed lanes w/o signaling to avoid her. Oh, well, I paid teh fine, as I didn't think I had enough to challenge him in court and win.

In all cases, I was motoring 'briskly. All three cases were on the Dulles Toll Road byVA St Police, and basically 'chicken poop' stops IMO - pre-rush hour, runnig wiht traffic at around 70 (limit is 55, but it's dangerous to do 55 - ). One guy was honest and said it was a holiday weekend and he was looking for every opportunity to turn on his lights and slow people down . Each time I was polite, turned on the interior light when appropriate, kept my hands in plan sight, and informed the officer I had a CWP, was armed and awaited his instructions. I have no real complaint. I'm with Weasel - attitude counts. A lot. I also think a CWP is generally well regarded by street cops, not exactly 'get out of jail free', but it may get you the benefit of the doubt as long as you are otherwise well behaved. JMO.

 

[eagle45]

armedcitizen - I'm glad this one went well for you. I've only been pulled over 6 or 7 times in all the years I've been driving. I've often wondered if I'd be a little extra nervous when carrying. Sounds like you and the LEO did what you should.

 

[Coronach]

I would revise this to say, “My hat is off to the officer who pulled me over.†Otherwise you’re implying that all Columbus PD officers would have been this courteous.

Correct, but that would be the rule, rather than the exception, I would expect.

Also, I'm not sure where the 'cops on this board advocating disarmament' idea comes from, but if one of the LEO guys present did say that, it would be the exception rather than the rule. Don't confuse a desire to maintain the option of disarming the driver with advocating a blanket policy of disarmament...but again, I'm not sure what quote is being referenced.

I am, however, very much in favor of the cop having that option, in instances where something just ain't right. It might prevent someone (cop, citizen) from being shot.

Mike