So I'm spending Christmas Eve cruising a local mall checking the handicapped spaces for vehicles without placards. I see this Land Rover with two occupants sitting in a space and I make contact with the female driver. She doesn't want the ($300) ticket and her male passenger gets out and confronts me. I control him verbally and he leaves the scene. I go about writing her the ticket and suddenly the bozo guy returns and gets beligerent. Once I have him cuffed, I run him and he's subject to an order of protection from any contact with the female driver. So, instead of walking away until I leave and then returning to his girlfriend's car, he gets booked and spent Christmas in the county jail. I never cease to be amazed by how stupid perps can be...  Did I mention that he was on probation for narcotics and any arrest would violate him?  Dumb...dumb...dumb!

Funny dumb seems to run with criminal types!

Hey, no one ever accused them of being smart!!

Tell me more about this "verbal control". Is this where you wave your hand like a Jedi? Is there some invisible barrier field of energy involved? Is it only necessary to outsmart "The Perp"? What tactics or form of energy defeat verbal control?

Tell me more about this "verbal control". Is this where you wave your hand like a Jedi? Is there some invisible barrier field of energy involved? Is it only necessary to outsmart "The Perp"? What tactics or form of energy defeat verbal control?

grimshaw...

Thanks for asking the question as it required me to dig out the use of force continuum. This is fairly lengthy, but it is an elastic concept as the use of force can increase and decrease quickly depending on the situation. In my case, my presence at the scene was the basic level of force (I was detaining the driver to investigate and issue a citation). The passenger confronting me while in the course of conducting official police duties, and then failing to follow a lawful order (this is the verbal part where I told him to leave the immediate area of my investigation and stop hindering my ability to conduct my official duties is a violation of law in itself). So, I didn't issue any magic incantation...I told him to stop disturbing my investigation and I gave him the opportunity to leave. He left, but then decided to return and directly confront me (don't EVER touch a police officer without his/her permission in this sort of incident). When he violated my lawful order to disperse and returned he opened himself to identifying himself, being detained and a Terry search.

The following link for the police continuum of force (most agencies have some form of this as policy) is from Beaverton, OR and is fairly typical. In my case I followed my department's use of force policy and only resorted to physical restraint of the subject when it was necessary to retain safety and control of the situation. Only that level of force necessary was applied.

Read the policy at this link and please ask questions. I know the other officers here will be glad to answer any questions you have about how we protect and serve.

[url]www.ci.beaverton.or.us/departments/police/General_Orders/go060100.pdf[/url]

All clear. Move along. Nothing to see here.

HeeHee, if she can afford a Land Rover parked in a handicap spot, then she can afford a summons![:D]

No, this is not surprising. Just typical.