Calling All Cops: Is This Standard Procedure?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So last night, I’m driving home in the dark after dinner with a friend - when I see the blue lights flashing.

I immediately pull over and the police officer comes up on the passenger’s side and knocks on the glass.

I jumped because I was expecting him to come up on the driver’s side. I lowered the window and he laughed and told me not to be scared - he wasn’t going to right me a ticket or anything - he just wanted me to know that I had a tail out.

I thanked him (I had no idea) and assured him I would get it taken care of today. Then I gave him my license and registration. He then asked me to get out of the car and come back to his vehicle.

I was a little surprised - I had never been asked to do that before. I asked him if I could pull off the side of the road a little more first - which he laughingly agreed was a good idea - so we both moved forward.

Then I walked back to his car and stood on the passenger’s side of his car (I wasn’t going to stand that close to the highway) and he rolled his window down and told me I didn’t have to stand outside, that I could get in his car.

I pleasantly declined and said that it felt good to stand - but it weirded me out that he wanted me to do that. He double-checked my address, asked me how old I was, made sure twice that I knew I didn’t have to mail in the warning or anything, and told me that he had asked me to come back because that way if there were any changes to my address, etc, or any questions - he wouldn’t have to keep walking back to my car.

Then he handed me back everything including my warning and suggested the best way for me to merge back in to traffic.

I’m a 38 year old woman and have been stopped a few times - and this is a first.

***Is it standard procedure to ask someone to come sit in the front of the cop car during a routine stop?? ***

I should mention this was in North Carolina.

2

That is definitely weird. I’m going to go with “he was hitting on you”. But that’s just my two cents.

3

I’m a dude. Whenever I’ve had a non-ticket traffic encounter with a cop (accident investigation and the like), I’ve sat in the cop’s front seat.

Ticketable, I’ve stayed in my front seat.

Indiana and North Carolina as reference points.

4

I think that it’s SOP for them to run the license and do a warrants check on anyone that they stop, and asking you to step out of the car might have been a way for him to decide if you appeared to be sober or if he should do a sobriety test. That, or he was just attracted to you and wanted to talk to you more.

5

I know of two cases where police officers (one a Florida state trooper) attacked and killed women they had stopped for alleged traffic violations (one case was the subject of an Ann Rule book, the other was featured on Forensic Files).

While the officer in this case may have been acting perfectly legitimately, if you felt uncomfortable I think that was enough reason to politely decline getting in the car.

6

I have seen it, but not often. My first speeding ticket the state trooper made me get out my car and into his. Many, many years ago.

7

It is becoming standard procedure, especially at night. It is for the safety of the officers. Coming up on the passenger side keeps them out of the line of traffic, and having you come sit in the car with him keeps him from having to stand in the cold if he does need to write a ticket. In TN, both of these things are becoming pretty standard procedure. Or so my driving school instructor said when I had to go to keep a ticket off my record :smiley:

8

I was in a very minor accident (I was at a red light and struck from behind) a few years ago and the officer asked me to sit in his front seat while he filled out the paperwork. I thought it was to make me feel less like a criminal, plus it was cold out.

9

Considering that I’ve seen articles/footage of incidents where police or others standing outside a car (people fixing a flat, emergency responders) on the side of a highway have been struck by other cars, I suspect both approaching on the passenger side and asking the OP to sit in the car were safety measures as well.

10

I was pulled over for speeding in SC 20 years ago. It was around 2 AM, and the cop didn’t even get out of his car - he got on the loudspeaker and told me to come back to his car with my license & registration. Which was a good thing, since there were 6 of us in a rented van with about 12 cases of beer, mostly empty. (Don’t worry, I hadn’t been drinking.) I sat in the front seat of his cruiser while he wrote me the ticket. It was disconcerting, since in drivers ed in PA I had been told that you ALWAYS wait for the cop to come up to your car, and you never get out unless he tells you to do so.

11

i appreciated all your responses, and was glad to know that it wasn’t just weird to me. But does anyone work in law enforcement, or know a police officer they can ask? I just would like to understand it from a more official standpoint.

(Or I would happily take a cite.)

12

I’ve seen it done a few times, but not most of the time. It’s been mostly in poor weather. I think it’s a safety consideration that somebody isn’t standing outside where a vehicle will strike them.

13

If you read my response, you would see that I was citing the driving class guy who said that it has become SOP in TN due to the large number of police officers killed in accidents while standing on the side of the road writing tickets. TN has also begun enforcing the “move over law” which says that you must move into the left lane when there are emergency vehicles on the side of the road – or face a $500 fine.

14

I remember as a teenager I would have to go sit in the front seat of their car but have never been asked to do so as an adult. All though I should say I can count on one hand how many times as an adult I’ve been pulled over. I’m 38 as well.

15

I’m not a cop, but there are policemen in my family and I covered the “cop beat” for several newspapers. From what I know, proper traffic stop procedure is to:

Come to a stop with the centerline of the patrol car lined up with the driver’s left taillight. This offers the officer protection from traffic while standing next to the stopped car, and gives the dashboard camera a clear view of the officer and the stopped car.

Approach the stopped car on the driver’s side and stand slightly behind the driver; lean down and talk to the driver with your body facing forward (so if you need to jump back, you won’t be jumping into traffic, but backward alongside the car). If it’s night, use your flashlight to briefly scope out the interior of the car, make sure you know where everyone is, where their hands are, etc.

Leave everyone in the subject car if possible; it cuts down on having to manage the safe movement of people alongside a highway or street. People are safer in the car, and so is the officer.

Ask the driver to move back to the patrol car only if you suspect there’s danger of flight before the stop is finished.

Be professional but courteous. Be respectful and expect respect in return. Remember that you are (1) a representative of The People but (2) you are given a badge and a gun for a reason.

Of course, for felony stops or for traffic stops that start to turn into something else, other regulations and procedures start applying.

It appears to me that either the officer described in the OP was trying to become overly friendly with melodyharmonius, or was making it up as he went along. If he was an NC state trooper, he’s probably not long for the job because North Carolina is almost fetishist about the professionalism of its troopers. In my experience, all of the states set much higher standards for their troopers than the municipal or county cops, but it’s especially true in the South where they are working hard to overcome the “Bubba-with-a-badge” image of the 1960s.

But if he was local or county, well, maybe he’s just a good ol’ boy who never did learn the ropes right.

16

please don’t misunderstand me - I mean no disrespect!

I was just hoping for someone from law enforcement in addition to your driving class guy. And as a cite, I was hoping for some official county or federal website documentation.

Again, not because I discount what you relayed, but just because I was hoping to hear from the law enforcement side of things.

17

Thank you for your insight! The officer I dealt with was from the county sheriff’s department.

18

So he was looking for a little “county mountee,” then?

:smiley:

19

I think once he realized that i wasn’t going to get in his car and that i was 38 even though i act/look younger - he wasn’t interested. Cause I know he had a gun, but I coulda taken him.

20

In Ohio they ask you to stand outside with them as they write the ticket. One time I refused, because it was raining, and the officer didn’t like that. I have been asked to sit in the officer’s car for various reasons, (once I was a witness to an accident, another time I was helping them block traffic with my car,) and it has been about 50/50 if I am asked to wait in the front or back.