CH> officers, to make the incident less traumatic for the citizen?  I
 CH> readily acknowledge that when  certain circumstances exist, a felony
 CH> stop is justified regardless of  who the subject is.  It just seems to
 CH> me that over the years some of  the seasoned LEO's have developed some
 CH> techniques to make the incident less traumatic on the innocent......
 CH> ...like the little old lady on her way home from church.
This and other circumstances would effect the reasonable grounds to make the
felony stop in the first place. If the suspect information didn't match or
there were other questionable circumstances, other tactics would probably be
used. Anyone who has been in law enforcement for any length of time has
stopped the wrong car or the wrong suspect in a major felony case. It is then
time for the officer to eat crow, be very apologetic, explain the entire
situation, and attempt to make the person understand that the tactics used
were designed to keep everyone alive, including the suspect. If the officer
has the right attitude, most citizens are quick to forgive and understand
that the officer is simply doing his or her job.
The elderly lady would obviously change the tactics used by the officers,
depending upon all of the circumstances known. She might be a hostage, or
there could be a host of other unknown factors that would modify the tactics
used by the officers. The key to the situation would still be, "are there
reasonable grounds to make a felony vehicle stop?"
Tom Rightmer - Victims' Rights Advocate
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