‘No routine stops’ for cops trained to expect the unexpected

Dayton police recruits spend more hours than state mandates on ‘stops and approaches’


What to do if you’re stopped

Sgt. Jeff Kramer of the Ohio State Highway Patrol offers some tips to drivers who get pulled over:

  • Stop on right side of road, coming to a smooth, gradual stop.
  • No quick, jerky movements. Do not get out of car.

  • Keep your hands on the steering wheel at 10 and 2.
  • At night, turn on interior lights.
  • Roll down window all the way as a courtesy. It's noisy on the highway.
  • Tell the officer when you're reaching for the glove box, and what you're reaching for.
  • Notify the officer if you have a concealed carry permit.
  • If you want to dispute a ticket, go through proper channels.

Dayton Police Lt. David Matthews knows only a small fraction of traffic stops result in conflict, but he stresses to young recruits that officers need to expect the unexpected. He’s been there.

About 15 years ago, Matthews stopped a man who got out of his car and began reaching into his pocket.

“I repeatedly told him, ‘quit reaching for that, quit reaching for that.’ I had to get into a wrestling match and was able to get the cuffs on him,” said Matthews, bureau commander for the Dayton Police Academy. “The guy had mental problems; there was nothing in his pocket. He kept reaching for nothing.”

That scenario is an example why Dayton police recruits go through 30 hours of training on “Stops and Approaches” — 10 more than the state of Ohio mandates.

The training is designed to help police officers handle themselves on the streets in an age where their moves are increasingly scrutinized by a smartphone-toting public and even their own cruiser cameras.

“These days with all the stuff that’s on the news and all the things that are prevalent on the streets, you have no idea how each individual officer is going to react,” Matthews said. “We do our best. We are very clear about what we want people to do.”

Traffic stops are the most common way the public interacts with police, sheriff’s deputies or state troopers, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

“The interaction is very important as far as how the public’s attitude toward police is formed,” said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. “Maybe it’s the only interaction a member of the public will ever have with a police officer.”

‘Direct eye contact’

The Ohio State Highway Patrol has documented more than 1.2 million instances of enforcement or non-enforcement stops this year, but only 619 cases of resisting arrest or resisting arrest by fleeing in a motor vehicle.

Still, troopers and police say they approach every stop the same.

“There is no routine stop. You don’t know the person, what they’ve just done or intend to do, whether they have a warrant for their arrest or they’re driving a stolen vehicle,” said Lt. Craig Cvetan of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. “There’s really no way to identify that off a person’s appearance.”

One local stop that drew national attention occurred in August when a Dayton police officer stopped a man and told him that one of the reasons he was pulled over was for “making direct eye contact.”

The city issued a statement saying the man, John Felton, a Dayton native and African American now living in Detroit, was stopped because he did not signal within 100 feet of a turn and that “making direct eye contact with an officer is not a basis for a traffic stop.” The police officer was ordered to undergo additional training on police stops.

Criminal defense attorney Jon Paul Rion said some officers can be overzealous.

“There’s no question in our practice and the patterns we observe that officers are focusing on certain traits that they believe will make it more likely that they’ll be enforcing laws other than traffic, and that their stop will lead to an arrest for something greater than that,” Rion said.

“And maybe that’s their job, but sometimes we see that infringes on otherwise law-abiding individuals’ rights.”

Stay in the car

Police officers are well-schooled in how to respond during a traffic stop, but most people don’t have a lot of experience in such cases. And they can be unpredictable. Cvetan recalled an incident involving a trooper at the Lancaster patrol post years ago that involved a church secretary who was pulled over.

“She made (her job) known,” he said. “She was under the influence and ultimately arrested. She fought (the trooper) hard. A church secretary is not who you would expect to resist you.”

So how should you react if you get pulled over?

First of all, do not get out of your car, police say. Also, keep your hands on the steering wheel, at the “10 and 2” positions.

“The big thing we’re concerned with is movement inside the vehicle,” said Sgt. Jeff Kramer of the highway patrol. “Most people shouldn’t be digging under their seats. What raises red flags the most is furtive movements.

“The hands are what we’re looking for. Are they behind the leg, and why would they be doing that?”

It’s also a good idea to turn on your interior lights if you are pulled over at night. And let the officer know when you are going to reach for your driver’s license and registration.

Officers cannot pull over a vehicle for no reason, and they can search a vehicle only if they have a warrant or probable cause — or if they get consent from the driver.

If you want to dispute a ticket, Rion suggests that the road is not the place to debate the issue.

“Both the citizen and the officer have mutual obligations to treat people well,” Rion said. “So long as officers and citizens are treating each other well, whether or not the Constitution is being violated is something lawyers can fight in court.”

Scenario training

Because traffic stops usually go smoothly, officers often have to fight complacency.

“That’s the hardest thing for officers who do routine traffic stops,” Matthews said. “A guy can work around (U.S.) 35 all day long for 15 years and never get into a conflict. But to be honest, there’s some neighborhoods in Dayton that are targeted enforcement because of high crime rates, high drug use and gun use.

“Those guys are on their toes every time they do a traffic stop because of where they’re at.”

The goal of police training is to prepare officers for myriad situations.

DeWine said his office has seven video simulator units that travel the state. He also said continuing education hours for all Ohio police officers will increase from four hours to 11 next year, and go up to 20 in 2017.

“We will throw curve balls at them,” Matthews said. “We have to teach then when it’s necessary to use force, but we also have to teach them when not to use force.”

He said police follow a “force continuum” when a traffic stop goes bad.

“Mere presence is usually enough, but sometimes you have to go hands-on, sometimes you have to use blunt objects like a baton. Taser, pepper spray, all the way up to a deadly encounter if necessary.”

Staff writer Adam Marshall contributed to this report.

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