police tactic question

[shiftyer1]

Tonite after locking up the store I noticed a car out back behind the store, I decided to drive back and see who was back there. Turns out it was an officer which I found out as soon as I got close enough for him to blind me with his spotlight and quickly drive to the front. I turned around and was about to leave but he the way he was driving around the front parking lot I got the impression he was going to pull me over when I pulled onto the road.

Instead of leaving I thought I should pull up and explain myself, as I was doing so he positioned his car to cut me off and spotlighted me again so I stopped and waited....he asked can I help u from his car....I told him that I thought I should come explain myself and told him I worked there and saw a car out back so I checked to make sure noone was messing around. I apologized for bothering him.

Is it standard procedure to blind an approaching vehicle and run away? Then when the same vehicle approaches in a better lit area blind them again?

I'm not sure what to think of the whole thing, no harm no foul, just strikes me as a strange encounter.

 

[EmGeeGeorge]

Was it a marked car?

Generally it's bad to let an unknown car make an approach on their own terms. A cop'll position themselves for the advantage, and to disadvantage the subject in question(you).

Think about it in these terms; you were driving up to shoot cop after burgaling store. When he moved, did it foil your plan? Then when you again tried to pull along side him, by blocking your car did he maintain a tactical advantage?

You're very vulnerable sitting in a stationary car.

 

[shiftyer1]

I guess tactically speaking yes....I guess it just felt funny. I guess thats what happens when country comes to town. Im used to pulling up to an officer window to window to have a conversation closer to home.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Without knowing more about the layout of the lot and the positioning of both cars...I can't think of a better explanation.

But yes, it is very common to light up an approaching vehicle and to seek a position of advantage to safely make an approach/stop

 

[shiftyer1]

The parking lot is L shaped....front and side of the building with a driveway around back to a manufacturing building. He was in the back to start....fled to better light? but didn't approach when I was leaving just repositioning? I thought he was going to pull me over when I left the property which is why I turned towards him instead of the road to speak to him.

Almost feel like I caught him in the middle of something, it was a strange encounter.....without drawing his movements I don't know how to explain it.

 

[The Man With No Name]

If I know you then I'll let you pull up beside me. Otherwise no. A car is cover in case things go bad. I can still remember the video that was shown to me during my initial training of officers involved in a gun fight with a really determined felon. One officer was surely saved by taking cover behind a wheel. You could see in the video the rounds hitting the wheel sparking. He made a brilliant shot coming from around the wheel pretty much ending things. A car is where you keep plan B (your rifle and/or shotgun) if things go bad. Giving that up is just not a good idea. Blinding an approaching vehicle you are suspicous of is good tactics. Every vehicle I've ever stopped at night I've tried to blind with my take down lights. I believe it saved my life once not allowing a man armed with a stolen Glock 17 to see my approach.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Almost feel like I caught him in the middle of something, it was a strange encounter.

Sounds pretty normal from your description.

What stuck you as being odd?

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Standard tactic to light up and run?

Depends on what he wants to accomplish. It may not be standard for normal operations, but it may be for his purpose. Without knowing his purpose, you can't know if that action would be considered standard for him or the police. Lighting up is normal, as noted. I have not had one move away from me before, however.

 

[lemaymiami]

I'm long out of police work - but did a career in south Florida during the worst of the cocaine wars (1973 to 1995). As a street cop you are both the hunter and the hunted...
and many officers develop pretty defensive approaches to folks and situations they're not certain of... The guys that don't behave that way might go a full career with never a problem or their family might get one of those late night visits (when the brass show up at some family's door late at night, the news is usually bad...). In my years we lost three cops a year (Dade and Broward counties combined...) every year, regularly as clockwork (yep, 66 killed on the job during my 22 years - I quit going to the funerals... ) and that didn't count suicides, angry wives or girlfriends, or mis-adventures away from the job...

For any ordinary guy, some of the things street cops do might seem a bit odd or overly defensive - but you get that way if you want to go home at the end of your shift. Most departments have citizen ride-along programs where anyone (that's not a convicted felon) can get a chance to ride and observe for a shift. I highly recommend it (particularly for anyone considering getting into police work). It might be the most boring hours all week or you might wonder whether you're going to make it back to the station.... it's that kind of work.

 

[Rexster]

There could be any number of reasons he "fled" momentarily, but responding in an unpredictable way is a fairly basic tactic when one is possibly being targeted.

And, yes, allowing an unknown contact to pull up next to me, door-to-door, might get me shot someday. I generally do not allow it.

I sometimes drive behind a particular local business, located on a very little-used street, to do such things as adjust my body armor, or even change from a sweat-soaked T-shirt into a fresh one. With my duty belt and armor not in place, I am particularly vulnerable. Some officers routinely park in a remote place and remove their duty rigs for a while, to give their aching backs and hips a break, particularly if they are working a double or extended shift.

At least we know this particular officer, in the original post, was not sleeping!

 

[Geo47]

You scared the crap out of him! He thought he'd found a good spot to snooze, write a report or surf the internet, and here you come, possibly to shoot him while he was seated in his car and unable to defend himself. So he blinded you and fled. Once he got away, he figured the tables were turned, so he detained you to check YOU out.

 

[lemaymiami]

Among the stats I mentioned in my first post were two unsolved killings that I remember pretty clearly... In one case a young officer was writing a report in his cruiser while parked on the side of a convenience store late at night... The best anyone could determine someone walked up to the car and shot him at point blank range, from the rear. The second was a veteran supervisor who reported an occupied vehicle at the rear of a closed store. He was shot and killed after he exited his car...

I was never involved in either case so I can't say how close investigators ever were to solving either crime. In urban areas where fifteen year olds can gain access to surprisingly heavy weapons it's a wonder that most cops behave as well as they do.... I don't miss having my feet in the gutter. I had been on the job over five years when I learned the hard way just how bad things can get. After that I learned quite a bit about officer survival, street tactics, and how to put as much advantage on my side of the equation as possible. By then I was a supervisor myself and one of the few things I was proud of in my career was that I never lost a man or woman on any of my crews.... In my early years it was just dumb luck since we were poorly trained and lead for the most part. My last fifteen years I did my best to improve our training and survival tactics. It does make a difference on the street where it counts.

 

[bikerdoc]

Texting his girl friend? Listening to that radio as to an ongoing situation in the next precinct? Who knows?
You approached him. That would put me in defensive mode.
I have been off the job since 88. Like my brother officer in post 12, I have seen and been involved in my share of tradegies that started with a seemingly simple encounter.
I do encourage a ride a long. Boredom puctuated by terror was a description one citizen told me.

 

[MedWheeler]

Yeah, I would have lit you up, too. Fleeing? Can't speculate, because I wasn't there and cannot picture the actual environment. However, I never interviewed anyone from inside my car. As many chats as possible were done on my terms, regardless of who approached whom initially. Being seated in a car when approached by a stranger is not a good strategy; it's too hard to fight from inside, especially if guns come into play. In fact, I never even re-entered the car to write tickets. I always stood behind my car, to the right, while running checks on and/or writing tickets to drivers.
It's possible that, in your case, he was momentarily satisfied with who you were (or weren't) but, when you re-approached, his curiosity was piqued again.

 

[Robert]

Not really on topic.