Citizens' Academy VI: Traffic stops and room clearing

Editor's Note: Citizens' Academy is a six-week program within the Corsicana Police Department designed to educate citizens of Corsicana how our police operates through class lessons and simulations. Daily Sun reporter Patrick Sparks has enrolled in Citizen's Academy and attends the lessons each week to write about them so that everyone may also learn:
The class drove out to the former Corsicana State Home found at the south end of Second Avenue for our next hands-on lesson, led by Officers Sean Eggleston, Sean Fraiser and Ron Kludy. Tuesday we were to learn about how the police conduct their traffic stops as well as SWAT tactics when it comes to sweeping and clearing rooms while searching for a suspect.
We began with a quick study of the tactical gear that police use during hostile confrontations, with Eggleston passing around a ballistic vest and helmet. Police vests look like they're militarized, but are actually lighter than what the army uses; the ballistic plates used are a lighter grade than military, and offers less upper chest protection – certain military vests have neck protection.

The vests are still modifiable, allowing their users to customize the pouches they may use, either for spare magazines, a first aid pouch or a loose accessory pouch.
However, lighter does not mean lightweight: Eggleston passed around a bare vest with only the plates inserted and it was still fairly heavy, close to lugging around a full high school book-bag (my classes in high school required a lot of books back then). It's important to note that if a plate ever receives impact of any form – be it from a bullet or melee weapon – the plate needs to be discarded and replaced; officers cannot afford trusting a ballistic plate with any wear or tear. For cop safety, they're a one and done deal.
After the vest, Eggleston passed around a tactical helmet, showcasing how much a helmet has changed over the years. They're now much more lightweight and aren't as bulky as their predecessors. The ears are left open for communication gear to be worn, and includes rails for different tech on the sides and front. A photo of the helmet can be seen online.
After the quick show and tell, we moved on to the procedure of a routine traffic stop, but the varying elements and situations make them anything but routine. A person might be pulled over for many reasons: busted headlight or tail light, running a stop sign or red light, speeding, expired registration, or no license plate light. The person inside may be compliant and agreeable, or annoyed and irritable. They might even possibly be hostile and possess a gun.
Certain procedures that have to stay the same deal with positioning the cop car and approaching a person's vehicle. Officers try to make a habit out of parking their vehicle at an angle on the side of the road, cutting their wheels to point in the street, and there are two reasons for this:
The first reason is that should an officer find himself in a federal traffic stop – a stop with the intent to arrest a potentially dangerous suspect, the angle of the vehicle's parking will allow the officer to use the engine as a shield and cover. The spotlight helps with cover as well; looking at the photos online, you can see the difference from the officer's perspective and the suspect's.
The officer has clear sight of who he's aiming at, but from the other side, that spotlight can blind a suspect and make it difficult to aim back.
The second reason is to help prevent further damage should someone driving by accidentally smack right into the cop car from behind. If they parked normally and that were to happen, there's a good chance that the officer's car would roll right into the back of the person they stopped. So with the vehicle angled and the wheel turned into the road, the car will roll into the open street instead.
When officers approach a vehicle, they use that time walking up to check for other factors: Are people moving around inside the vehicle? Is someone hiding in the backseat? Does the car smell of drugs? After that initial assessment, now comes the part where an officer will approach your window to talk with you.
They'll actually normally stay a foot or so back behind your window, and the reason for this is in case whoever they pull over has a gun they're willing to use. If an officer were to stand directly in front of the window, a suspect could easily shoot from inside the vehicle. With the officer standing a little behind the window, the suspect would have to stick their body outside the window to aim properly, making it harder to aim quickly.
Everyone got to take turns pretending to pull someone over and acting out a traffic stop, asking for license and registration, informing the person the reasons for pulling them over and making judgement calls whether to pass a citation or not. For most of us, not much happened, but one student was surprised as Fraiser (acting as the suspect being pulled over) suddenly jumped out of his vehicle while she approached, scaring her.
To her credit, she did exactly what she was supposed to, which was move behind the vehicle for cover and draw her weapon; key word is draw, not fire, as there is a difference. Turns out Fraiser was acting as an irritated suspect that might step out of their vehicle to greet the officer instead of waiting inside the vehicle. In that situation, it is best for the officer to ask that person to step toward the sidewalk and get out of the street.
When it grew dark enough, we moved to the shutdown cafeteria of the Corsicana State Home for Eggleston, Fraiser and Kludy to demonstrate how SWAT officers clear a building with flashlights and partners. The lights attached to pistols and rifles are as bright as the spotlights on their vehicles and help with disorienting a suspect.
Time for more movie myth debunking: You usually watch shows where officers sweep through dark rooms with their lights on, slowly panning over as they try to find the bad guy. This is a bad move as it not only gives away where you are, but the direction you're looking. What is supposed to happen is that officers use their flashlights in short bursts.
I got to experience firsthand why this is effective when asked to hide in a dark bathroom for the officers to search me in. When passing by, Eggleston and Kludy would short flash their light into the bathroom to light it up for a split second before turning the light back off as they passed by.
As I was on the receiving end, I was heavily disoriented by the light as it reflected off the wall tiles, the brightness bright and brief enough to leave spots in my vision and disrupting my night vision (when your eyes eventually adjust to low light) when I was back in darkness. No matter how many times they did this, I could not determine how close they were to me or accurately figure out their position.
The brief quick flashes does no harm to the officers performing them, as they're behind the light and have control and know when it's coming, which I got to see when they asked me to step out and try the light for myself.

Along with controlled light bursts, when clearing a room officers always go in pairs or groups, taking larger groups for bigger buildings. They move in a way where someone is always watching one direction, leaving no blind spots for an ambush. Even when clearing rooms, the officer outside cannot turn to check on their partner; they have to trust that their partner knows what they're doing.
The students got to practice this as they were given pistol lights and were made to sweep the cafeteria and search for Kludy, who hid in the building.
Afterwards, we had a little fun with the exercise with the students getting a turn to hide, only this time we were armed with airsoft pellet pistols as cops came looking for us, looking to target and clear us out. For safety reasons, the students were given paintball masks to protect our eyes and faces, and went in groups of three while Kludy and Fraiser came looking for us with airsoft rifles.
It was a tense experience, trying to get into the mindset of someone trying to ambush a cop. I was crouched down behind a pillar, sitting in the dark with bated breath, pistol trained at the door I felt they would come through. I was listening for footsteps, looking for shadows on the floor or walls, anything to help me predict where they were coming from. I had a flashlight on my pistol; would I use the strobe effect to blind them, or make an annoying distraction should I need to move for cover?
I could already hear gunfire coming from the room in front of me as the two others that hid with me were found and engaging the officers, and that did not last long as things grew silent again. I knew I was the last one in the building to find, and there were two trained officers looking for me.
I felt so exposed and unsafe where I was, quietly moving further back into the building to bide my time; I wasn't looking to actively fight with them, I wanted to get the drop on them at an opportune moment.
Apparently I was getting a bit too creative with my hiding, as Kludy and Fraiser weren't really expecting anyone to hide as far into the building as I was doing. Plus with me moving around, it was making their search that much longer, and it got to the point where we ran out of time to continue. I was told afterwards I wasn't doing anything wrong; most criminals would move in the same fashion I was, trying to get behind the cops.
Normally with a building that size I was hiding in, they wouldn't have just two officers searching; they'd send a team of 12 to come looking for me. And I thought it was scary with just two of them trying to pick me out in the dark