Vehicle Stops Involving Extremist Group Members.

Experienced police officers understand that there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop. Yet, while the field-level investigation of an automobile and its occupants always has presented a tactical risk, over the last decade, stopping and checking vehicles for suspected criminal activity have taken on another element of danger. Increasingly, officers making traffic stops have become involved in deadly encounters with heavily armed extremists.

In a well-publicized incident that occurred in February 1997, brothers Chevie and Cheyne Kehoe, members of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations and white supremacist religion Christian Identity, opened fire on Ohio law enforcement officers after being pulled over for driving with expired license plates. [1] Sadly, most officers can recall a traffic stop in their state that involved a member of an extremist group and ended in a surprise fight for survival. Accordingly, officers must remain alert to the telltale signs of extremist group involvement and understand the risk these individuals present. In addition, officers may need to rethink their tactical approaches to survive, if not prevent, a deadly encounter with these dangerous individuals.

RECOGNIZING THE SIGNS OF EXTREMISM 

Members of extremist groups may reveal their affiliations in a number of ways. [2] First, the vehicles they drive often provide clues that can help officers prepare for potential danger before making a stop. Specifically, extremists' vehicles may sport bumper stickers with antigovernment or pro-gun sentiments; display handmade license plates, plates from jurisdictions that do not exist, or no plates at all; or fit the profile of vehicles driven by known extremist group members in the area. Additionally, officers may have seen the vehicle or its occupants at locations where extremist groups assemble or may know that the subjects harbor extremist beliefs.

The occupants of the vehicle may show other signs of extremist group involvement. Drivers who hold antigovernment beliefs may refuse to carry driver's licenses, vehicle registration, proof of insurance, or other forms of identification. Instead, they may present handmade licenses, a copy of the Constitution, a Bible, or political literature. In addition, a records check may reveal minor outstanding warrants. Extremists often fail to satisfy violations of motor vehicle laws, such as registration or license requirements, because they do not feel bound by such laws, and any statements to this effect that drivers make should send a strong signal to officers. Finally, because of their knowledge and experience, officers may be able to recognize other indicators of extremist behavior unique to their jurisdictions.

Once officers decide a subject may hold extremist beliefs, they should develop a plan of action. In fact, preparation remains the key to dealing with extremists.

PREPARING FOR A STOP

Because any traffic stop can turn deadly, officers usually learn at the academy to stop vehicles in locations that provide adequate lighting and personal cover. Yet, in previous encounters with law enforcement, extremist group members have stopped abruptly, jumped from their vehicles, and fired on officers. Suddenly, officers find themselves in a "kill zone" before they even step from the patrol car. What can officers do to increase their odds of survival during such an ambush?

Planning for Survival

Survival options include all of the safety tactics learned in the academy with one significant difference. Current vehicle construction almost precludes the use of a vehicle for reliable personal cover. Even the area around the engine provides only limited cover. As a result, evacuation may represent the preferred solution to a sudden direct attack with heavy weapons.

If attacked while seated in the patrol vehicle, officers should seek personal cover behind the engine area of the vehicle while evacuating the kill zone using the most direct route. Usually this means the officer quickly must place the patrol vehicle in reverse. [3] To do so, the officer's hands must remain free of all obstructions, including pens, notebooks, radio microphones, and the like.

Trainers usually emphasize moving at right angles to exit a kill zone. However, due to the penetration capability of most high-impact weapons, the right-angle movement may leave officers under fire with only a driver or passenger-side door for cover. Therefore, officers should consider using a gradual right-angle evacuation, keeping the general area of the engine between themselves and the attack. After evacuating and taking cover, officers can stop and initiate critical incident procedures. If no reliable cover exists, officers should evacuate at least 200-300 meters (approximately 600-900 feet), the outside effective range of most high-impact weapons.

Traditional vehicle-stop training focuses on what stands in front of and, sometimes, to the sides of the officer. A frontal attack from sophisticated high-impact weapons means expanding the area officers must consider when preparing to make a vehicle stop. Because evacuation may represent the only viable survival option, officers must remain aware of what lies behind the police vehicle at the time the stop occurs. For example, vehicles approaching from the rear could block the officer's escape route. If so, the officer may be able to wait until the vehicles pass to make the stop.

Keeping an evacuation route open presents a deployment and positioning dilemma for the cover officer, as well as the contact officer. If the cover officer parks directly behind the contact officer, the contact officer may get trapped between the suspect and the cover officer and be unable to escape an attack. The side-by-side positioning of contact and cover vehicles seems to offer the best opportunity for quick exit of a kill zone for both officers.

Officers must consider the subject's escape route in addition to their own. Selecting the proper location to make a stop can limit a subject's ability to flee.

Communicating Safely and Effectively

One of the most basic rules governing traffic stops also holds true for encounters with extremists. Officers always should notify the dispatcher before exiting their vehicles. In fact, they should complete all radio transmissions prior to signaling for a vehicle to stop. Doing so allows officers to focus on the subject. It also leaves both hands free to shift and control the vehicle during an emergency evacuation.

Officers also should get into the habit of writing the license number of the vehicles they stop on the pad they use to record dispatched information, then putting their pens back in their pockets. Then, if an attack leaves an officer unable to testify, the evidence the officer leaves behind presents a strong case to a jury.

Finally, before officers stop a vehicle occupied by two or more individuals for suspected criminal activity, they always should request backup. Waiting for a cover officer proves particularly important when dealing with extremist group members, who often travel in convoys. The National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, DC, is marked with the names of many officers who failed to call for assistance when they needed it. No traffic stop is worth dying for, and if necessary, officers should merely follow vehicles until backup becomes available.

MAKING THE STOP

Approaching and Removing Occupants

During training, many police officers learn that they should carefully approach a stopped vehicle on the driver's side, paying attention to the trunk and occupant areas, while keeping the occupants inside. This represents a good start, but other tactical options exist.

A videotape review of extremist group members recently attacking officers indicates that some suspects struggle with officers during attempts to establish initial control. After breaking away from officers, many subjects run back to their vehicles to retrieve weapons. Alternately, a passenger left in the vehicle engages officers when they have their hands full with the driver. In either scenario, officers must consider the interior of the vehicle "hot" from a tactical perspective because they have not yet cleared it for weapons.

To clear the vehicle, the officer first should remove the driver. While exiting, the driver should place the keys on the roof of the vehicle, which allows the officer to easily take control of the keys and discreetly secure the driver's side door. This serves to disrupt any spur-of-the-moment plan of action the driver may have, such as returning to the vehicle to flee or attack the officer.

When faced with multiple subjects, the contact officer should not approach the vehicle without a cover officer. Both officers should approach from their respective sides of the vehicle. The cover officer should have all remaining occupants exit through the passenger side, then discreetly lock the passenger doors. Locking the doors helps secure the interior of the vehicle until the officers are prepared to conduct a limited search for weapons or inventory the contents before towing.

Separating suspects--particularly suspected extremist group members--from their vehicles when conducting a field-level investigation into criminal activity remains critical. Escorting subjects to the rear quarter panel on the nonroadway side of the patrol car puts distance between suspects and their vehicles. Doing so also reduces the risk of officers' or suspects' falling onto the hot car hood during a struggle. Additionally, it gives the officer easy access to the patrol vehicle's prisoner cage in the event of an arrest.

Conducting Searches

The legal standards of frisk, search, and seizure remain the same regardless of the subject. [4] If sufficient legal grounds exist to frisk or search the subject, officers should do so before performing any other task, including searching the interior of the vehicle. Officers who suspect subjects may be armed should handcuff them before frisking or searching them. Officers operating alone with a single suspect should not check the interior of the suspect vehicle until they have secured the subject. Securing may include placing the subject in the back seat of a police vehicle with a cage, handcuffing the subject to a fixed object safely out of harm's way, or, if departmental policy prohibits either of these, leaving the subject under the control of another officer. If none of these options proves possible, then officers must weigh the safety implications of checking the interior of the vehicle from a dangerously vulnerable position. This may sound extreme, but officers who attempt to check the interior of the vehicle while the subject remains unsecured give the subject a tactical advantage and put themselves at risk.

Searching a vehicle with multiple occupants requires the use of contact and cover officers. The contact officer should search the interior of the vehicle, while the cover officer keeps the occupants in a position of tactical disadvantage on the nonroadway side of the patrol vehicle. Both officers must maintain good verbal and nonverbal communication throughout the encounter. To do so, they should keep each other in sight at all times.

Interrogating Appropriately

Interrogation in a field-level interview involves more than asking questions; it also means establishing and maintaining control while working in a street environment. When dealing with the public, officers work through three primary levels of control:

* No control--the officer has no control over the subject's movements or the subject's environment;

* Stabilized--the officer has stopped the subject's actions (usually with verbal commands) but does not control the subject's ability to reinitiate hostile actions or has not cleared the subject's environment of weapons; or

* Under control--the subject presents very little threat or the officer has controlled the subject's ability to initiate hostile actions, and the officer has cleared the subject's environment of weapons.

Officers have used a variety of tactics during field investigations to control individuals suspected of criminal activity. Experience with street gang members has helped urban officers develop expertise in ordering subjects into positions of disadvantage. Because extremist group members pose a similar threat to rural officers that street gang members present to urban officers, rural officers should practice and use similar verbal control and positioning once they have removed subjects from their vehicles. All officers should conduct field-level interrogations from a strong field interview, or "power," stance.

Contact officers usually conduct interrogations and should do so from the nonroadway side of the rear quarter panel of the patrol vehicle, unless other environmental conditions prove safer. When interrogating multiple subjects, contact officers should direct one subject at a time to the rear quarter panel position. In order to maintain undistracted observation and control, cover officers should keep the remaining subjects on the nonroadway side of the vehicle in a position of disadvantage (e.g., standing facing the patrol vehicle, sitting with legs crossed and hands interlocked on the head, or prone on the ground with arms extended palms up), preferably at a distance far enough to keep them from overhearing the details of the interrogation. Once interrogated, subjects should be returned to the cover officer's control. Both officers should account for the subjects' hands at all times.

Officers never should argue political philosophy with extremist group members, who may use this as a tactic to divert attention away from why they actually were stopped. In addition, a heated argument may keep officers from focusing on safety issues. Officers should accept any literature subjects offer with no comment other than a thank you. If subjects protest being stopped or ticketed, officers may find that the response "I'm just doing my job" helps to humanize them and defuse tension. In addition, listening without comment to subjects' political agendas may allow them to vent their anger in an appropriate and safe manner. [5]

COMPLETING THE STOP

Generally, a field-level investigation results in two possible dispositions: the subject is either questioned and released or arrested. After releasing subjects, officers should keep them under observation and remain on guard until the subjects have driven away. When officers make an arrest, they should handcuff the subjects' hands behind their backs, not in front. The purpose of handcuffs remains to control the subject's hands. With the hands cuffed in front, little control exists, and worse, the subject now has a dangerous weapon to use against the officer. The risk a member of an extremist group poses to officers certainly merits using proper handcuffing techniques.

TRAINING FOR EXTREMISM

Extremist group members often train regularly for confrontations with law enforcement, and officers should do no less. Appropriate training includes developing a planned response, working through the plan in a practical, hands-on setting to find out what works and what does not, then periodically practicing the plan. Doing so gives officers the edge in encounters with possible extremists.

CONCLUSION

Vehicle stops involving members of extremist groups can escalate quickly into critical incidents for officers. All of the rules that govern traffic stops apply but prove particularly important when extremists may be involved. Prior to making a stop, officers must devise a plan of action that includes selecting a location that provides personal cover and an evacuation route. They must approach vehicles, remove the occupants, conduct appropriate searches, interrogate subjects, and end encounters using well-accepted and well-rehearsed procedures that maximize officer safety.

The U.S. Constitution gives citizens the right to express antigovemment opinions, yet some individuals carry their views to the extreme. In doing so, they put the lives of law enforcement officers and innocent citizens at risk. When officers recognize the signs of extremist involvement and know how to handle roadside encounters, they uphold the Constitution for all of America's citizens while keeping themselves safe.

Mr. Kobolt serves as the director of the Institute for Public Safety at Lake Superior State University in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan.

Endnotes

(1.) Mark Pitcavage, "Shootout in Ohio: A Case Study of the Patriot Movement and Traffic Stops," The Militia Watchdog, March 5, 1997; available from http://www.militiawatchdog.org/shootout.htm; accessed December 3, 1998.

(2.) For a comprehensive list of the signs of possible extremist involvement, see Mark Pitcavage, "Flashpoint America: Surviving a Traffic Stop Confrontation with an AntiGovernment Extremist," The Militia Watchdog, April 1998; available from http://www.militiawatchdog.org/trafstop.htm; accessed October 27, 1998.

(3.) Officers under attack may use their patrol cars as weapons and might consider putting the car in drive instead of reverse. Departments should determine policy and provide adequate training before allowing officers to use this tactical maneuver.

(4.) The legal grounds for a frisk are reasonable suspicion that the subject is involved in criminal activity and that the subject is armed with a weapon. Probable cause represents the standard for a search, which usually is conducted incident to an arrest or with a warrant. If an officer has reasonable suspicion that the occupants of a vehicle are involved in criminal activity and may have a weapon in the vehicle, then the officer may conduct a limited search of the vehicle's interior. See Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032 (1983).

(5.) Supra note 2.

Signs of Possible Extremist Involvement

* Vehicle displays bumper stickers with antigovernment or pro-gun sentiments (e.g., "Know Your Enemies: They Are Your Leaders" or "Joe McCarthy Was Right")

* License plates are missing, handmade (look crude or professional), or from jurisdictions that do not exist (e.g., British West Indies, Republic of Texas, Kingdom of Heaven)

* Driver possesses homemade driver's license

* Driver has no license, vehicle registration, proof of insurance, or other identification

* Driver hands officer copy of Constitution, Bible, or political materials

* Driver refuses to satisfy minor outstanding warrants due to antigovernment beliefs

* Driver associates with known extremists

Source: Adapted from Mark Pitcavage, "Flashpoint America: Surviving a Traffic Stop Confrontation with an Anti-Government Extremist, "The Militia Watchdog, April 1998; available from http://www.militia-watchdog.org/trafstop.htm; accessed October 27, 1998.