West Memphis Police Now Using Assault Rifles on Traffic Stops
 

After a car bombing, a major shoot out in the Wally World, the cops are pissed and taking action - starting to sound like a warzone, maybe in a sense it is:

"I'm sure there will some who will be upset," says Harrell, "but I believe in our police force. I know one of the officers who got shot. I go to church with his sisters. I'm for it, really."

Whether it's on city streets or on the interstate, Chief Paudert wants his officers to be able to match the fire power available to the bad guys.

The AR-15's, he says, won't be pointed directly at motorists. The backup officer will stand behind his or her police car, rifle in hand, at their ready.

And ready or not, Chief Paudert says drive through his town and get pulled over, you might just see one of their new guns.

"That's just the way it is," he says. "I mean, our times have changed. And we've got to change with our times. We cannot allow our officers to continue to be killed."


http://www.abc24.com/news/local/stor...fw.cspx?rss=59

I can't speak for patrol, but we do that, low pro on traffic stops and such. Usually it's done in high crime areas.

Fascinating.

One of my premises (tentative!) is that governmental control will tend to withdraw from marginal (in other words, high crime) areas as budget problems increase.

Rhetorical question: Is this an example?

You would think, but actually it's the other way around. First thing to go is staffing in districts where there is low crime. So the one time your mom calls 911 for someone breaking into her house, better hope that she's got a gun. While in the high crime areas, there is more police, fire, and EMS support just due to the high volume of calls for service.

I have a few friends who are LEOs here in Socal. When they drive into a high crime area they go in with both windows down and their sidearm on their lap.

We just lost an officer in Riverside a week ago.

RIP for the Officer.

That's how it should be. Boot lashing is an art, the more the merrior especially in high crime areas where the police never gets out and conducts self inititated activity.

I used to work in the asshole part of our city where we had 3 of the 4 worst ghetto barracks housing projects. My station and swing shift (which was my shift) had 2 cops killed in the line of duty over a period of 2 years. OIS were pretty common back then also. One thing that our station learned after every OIS and LOD is that you have to go back in there and conduct business as usual in the most professional manner as possible.

I think it is a great idea for departments that have two man units as long as they maintain a high level of training. We only have single man units. We are allowed to carry an AR in the car. Officers who do this have to go through a patrol rifle class and qualify with it semi-annually. The good thing about it is the PD, SO and HP around here are really good about backing each other up on traffic stops.

Agree, IMO withdrawal will be based upon implementation of technologies that allow for remote sensing without placing officers into a threat area.

I know of one nearby major city that utilizes gunshot detection systems and remote cameras. My observation is that the patrols remain outside of high threat area until some initiator occurs.

I guess it's an improvement, but were I in that situation, I'd be wrangling for 6.8, at least-if not .308.

Most Departments (To include the one I'm Retired from) here in Washington State only have one Officer units. Most departments allow Officers to have approved carbines/rifles if they get qualified with them. Most departments also have 870 Remington 12 GA shotguns in a rack in the driver area.

So, traffic stops here are not handled like Memphis does. When I was on Patrol, I used to carry a S&W 442 .38 in my jacket pocket and had my hand on it when I approached the driver on traffic stops or entering a Domestic Dispute call. ;)