Traffic Stop Protocol

My late father-in-law was a Texas Ranger. My nephew works for the Texas Department of Public Safety. My son is a special agent in federal law enforcement and also worked as a deputy in East Austin back in 2001. I appreciate their willingness to serve in these difficult and often dangerous fields, and our communities are the safer for it. I know many other honorable folks in other law enforcement agencies, and I appreciate their service to our state and communities. I've also encountered a few that should never have been issued a badge and gun. They're the ones carrying a big chip on their shoulders (probably acquired in their teenage years), and everybody's getting a little bit of their payback. But I'm not writing about them. I see something that's damaging law enforcement's public relations unnecessarily, and it happens daily with traffic stops. 

I just saw a news report about an officer in Austin who stopped a vehicle, and when the person got out of his car  and started reaching for his wallet, the officer unholstered his pistol and fired off a shot-- thinking the person was going for a weapon. The man ended up going to the hospital for a panic attack. I probably would react the same way. What law enforcement doesn't seem to realize is that the man was doing exactly what he thought he was supposed to do during a traffic stop.

The protocol for traffic stops has obviously changed in law enforcement over the years, but many of the older drivers aren't aware of it. This must be a baby boomer thing, but we were taught that if you get pulled over by law enforcement, you get out of your car and respectfully greet the officer, and then show him or her your driver's license and proof of insurance. That was the normal and acceptable practice for many years. 

A few months ago I was driving my father's pickup, and I was pulled over. I knew I wasn't speeding, but then I noticed the license sticker on the windshield was out of date. I knew to stay in the vehicle because I'd been a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over in years past, and when the driver started to get out of the car, the officer yelled at him to stay in the car . The officer acted like we were about to commit a worse offense, and it was frightening and humiliating. 

So I didn't get out of the truck, and the officer came over to my window and we talked a while. The conversation was very polite and friendly. I told him that the truck had been parked in the garage and hadn't been driven for a while, but I was sure Dad had received his license renewal, and that he probably just forgot to put it on the windshield. When the officer went back to his car to call in the license number, I opened the car pocket and sure enough, there was the license sticker in plain sight. I pulled it out and opened the pickup door to show him that I'd found it.

The officer screamed at me to get back in the truck-- like in the sixty seconds since we were chatting like old friends, I had somehow become a dangerous threat by opening the pickup door. That shook me up pretty good. And I'd have to say that the screaming reaction on his part didn't make for a good impression of him on my part. I wonder if he would've fired a shot in the air if I'd taken several more steps. We were in a parking lot, so he wasn't yelling at me because of a safety issue. 

Why does getting out of the car on a traffic stop make law enforcement officials so paranoid? Does the Academy teach nightmare scenarios of rare situations when something bad happened when people got out of their car? I would think the most dangerous position for the officer in a traffic stop is when he walks up to a vehicle where he can't see the driver's or passenger's hands, which might be holding a weapon. If the driver gets out, the officer knows what he's facing. And  I'm not talking about the danger of people getting out of their vehicles on the side of a busy road. I understand that.

If law enforcement continues to teach this protocol of people staying in their cars, part of the lesson should include not automatically assuming that everyone that gets out of their vehicle is fixing to shoot them. Many older drivers think they are doing exactly what they're supposed  to do when they get out of their vehicle for a traffic stop. 

If you want to change people's behavior during a traffic stop, then re-educate us in a nice, friendly way. Don't scream at us or fire warning shots. Most of us will respond to a normal tone of voice because we already respect the law. 

Don't give us reasons not to.

On the other side of the coin: Parents, model and teach your children how to respond respectfully to law enforcement officers as well as anyone in authority. Law enforcement officers have seen more bad behavior outside of war than anyone else in the country, and their job isn't easy dealing with the people who have no respect for life or property or common decency. We don't see what they see most every day.

And just in case you aren't familiar with current traffic stop protocol: 

1. stay in your vehicle unless the officer says otherwise
2. if it's at night, turn on the inside light
3. keep your hands on the steering wheel
4. speak respectfully
5. wait until the officer asks for your driver's license & proof of insurance
6. don't argue if you are issued a ticket; if you disagree, you can appeal it
7. if you're only issued a warning citation, thank the officer 
8. remember to not peel out when driving away : ) 

If you have a handgun, you definitely need to look up the protocol for informing the officer that you are armed and licensed. 

Drive safe. All of you. 

Generational Partners

Finn & PawPaw Casey in his workshop

This photo above is one of my favorite pictures hanging on our wall-- my Dad and his great-grandson Finn tinkering with "important things" in his workshop. Finn looks to be about four years old here, but he has always been drawn to Dad, even as a baby. Dad's deep voice sometimes scares babies, but never Finn. 

I remember us sitting around the table eating supper, and Finn was around two years old sitting next to PawPaw. When anyone said something during that particular dinner conversation, Finn would turn to PawPaw and repeat the last word or two, like PawPaw probably didn't hear. Our favorite line was when someone mentioned something about the green beans, and Finn looked at Dad and said, "Geen beans, PawPaw, geen beans!"

Finn & PawPaw doing the navigating during our stay on the Riverwalk in San Antonio a couple of years ago

I love knowing that my grandkids love to come over here to visit. They've always been comfortable with Mom and Dad. Dad built some simple wooden toys and put all of his board scraps in a container for the kids to play with. There's rarely a visit that they don't drag them out, along with ropes, bungee ties, and all kinds of interesting stuff of PawPaw's they find in the garage to build stores or forts or cities. 

 Me, Mom, Dad & Finn (3) right before our first Christmas in our new home in Taylor in 2008

I didn't know my grandparents well enough to feel comfortable around them when I was a child, and even up through college. Finn and Audrie and August have nine living grand and great-grandparents, and they have good relationships with all of them. I think that's so important for children to have multi-generational relationships. And I believe one of the positive consequences of tough economic times is several generations living together, which used to be a common thing among families. Our house regularly sees four generations hanging out and playing together. I love that.

Activity Board for a Busy Boy

My daughter had been talking about an activity board for several months. Our precious August, one-year-old and too smart for his own good, gets into everything. When he walks into a room, even when he's carried into a room, he's casing the joint. His eyes miss nothing. So a couple of days before his birthday party, Dad and I decided to make him an activity center. Nothing like starting a time-consuming project with an immediate deadline. It's the way we roll. 

Vanessa's concerned about this strong baby boy pulling things over on himself, too, so I thought I found the solution by buying a low, sturdy desk from IKEA ($17.99) as the base. We had 1/8" plywood on hand that we cut a little larger than the side openings of the desk. 

 I also bought a six pocket thing-a-mahickey to put across the long end. 

We were planning to attach two activity boards to the two narrow sides, but my daughter told me she just wanted the activity boards to hang on the wall so they wouldn't take up floor space. For these pictures, I just propped them on a 2x4 board against the outside of the desk to give you an idea of our original intent, but we would've attached them on the the inside of the desk which would've looked much nicer. We spray-painted the activity boards, mostly with paint we had on hand.

The first activity board is like an interior of a truck. My daughter found a little wheel at WalMart that we used for the steering wheel. I cut a plastic Cool Whip lid a little more than half-way across for the speedometer and used a Sharpie to write in the numbers. If we could've found a moveable arrow to attach to the speedometer, that would've been even better. I used a rectangle plastic lid for the radio, along with two ceramic knobs (IKEA - $2.99 for a pkg. of 6). If we were really on the ball, we would've added a painted scenery including a highway disappearing into the distance. We also talked about using canvas panels with different that could be attached to the windshield and interchangeable with Velcro tabs. But we ran out of time and energy.

We painted red and flourescent-green stripes on the second activity board and included a turnable doorknob, a battery powered plastic lightbulb with pull-string, a blue door with a picture behind it, a loud switch, a magnetic board, and my daughter is going to add a chain lock, hopefully before August goes to college.

I also made a 24 page booklet made up of photos of family for August. I printed out pictures on card stock and covered them with do-it-yourself laminating sheets, which should give it some longevity. Punch holes in a corner and attach with a ring. I really wanted a light switch on it, too, but the switch guts would've stuck out too far in the back. We attached everything with nuts and bolts with no sharp or long ends on the back.

The activity board still has room for other things, it's just finding the time and gumption to add them. 

August and brother Finn (7 years old) had a shared birthday party at a park, and the older kids loved messing with the activity board just as much as August did. That surprised me. I wondered if we should do something of the sort for Finn, but with more challenging activities on the board... : )

Here are the birthday boys- August, 1 year old, & Finn, 7 years old

I still like the idea of a free-standing activity board using the desk. It would even make a great frame for a house or little office, or even the cab of a pickup or airplane cockpit with the wheel attached inside to the board going across the middle of the back of the desk. The dashboard could span the opening below it, and it would have much more room to add a lot more neat stuff to mess with.

The only limitation is your imagination... and time... and tools... and get-up-and-go.