TRAFFIC STOP TECHNIQUES STRESSED

Boaz Officers Learn Importance Of Noting Location, Tag Number And
Description Of Vehicles.

BOAZ - Some Boaz police officers got a scary scenario this week.

C.A. Crisler asked them to imagine that an officer made a traffic stop and
called in his location and the vehicle tag number to the dispatcher. After
a while, when no one had heard from the officer, another one would be sent
to check on him. Finding the first officer injured, other law enforcement
officers would begin looking for the vehicle carrying the tag that had been
called in.

But what if the tag had been switched? What if that tag belonged on another
vehicle?

In that case, police officers would be conducting a massive search for the
wrong type of vehicle.

Crisler, a sergeant with the Gadsden Police Department who teaches law
enforcement classes when off duty, said it's imperative that officers also
call in a description of every vehicle they stop.

"Whenever you do a traffic stop, remember LTD - location, tag number and
description of vehicle," he said. He also suggested calling in the number
of people in the vehicle.

Crisler said although officers get a full day of training about traffic
stops at the police academy, his class is for officers who have experience
and have basic techniques down cold.

"I have chosen to teach this class based on a class I attended in Pearl,
Miss., taught by Mike Lewis of the Maryland State Police," Crisler said.

Crisler has a bit of experience teaching. He has taught building searches
and car stops at the Northeast Alabama Police Academy in Jacksonville since
1993.

The class he brought to the Boaz officers on Tuesday is called "Complete
Traffic Stops: Techniques for Drug Interdiction and Criminal Patrol."

The presentation was full of examples of huge drug busts - including almost
1,000 pounds of marijuana - that were made after stops for traffic
violations by alert officers who noticed that something was just not right.

"The use of illegal drugs represents 80 percent of all criminal activity,"
Crisler said.

In the movement of drugs from manufacturing to the street, transportation
is the weakest link.

Because of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks airport security is higher
and there is tighter security within package and letter delivery services,
so more drugs are being transported by roadway, he said.

A gut feeling isn't enough to search a vehicle, but by asking the right
questions and using drug-detection dogs, officers can often gain a driver's
consent to search or find probable cause to conduct a legal search, Crisler
said.

Several famous criminals were arrested after traffic stops, including
serial killers Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz, nicknamed the Son of Sam
killer, Crisler said.

Boaz police officer Mark Russell said the tip about calling in vehicle
descriptions hit home with him.

"A lot of times I just call in my location and the tag number, but I'll be
calling in a vehicle description now," he said.