Archangel M
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Could you do it?
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If the plates come back on a stolen vehicle, it's a felony hot stop. Call for backup and order the driver and occupants out one at a time over the PA, face down on the ground head away from me. I would not approach a PC stolen vehicle at night without having made contact with the driver first. Just sayin'...
OP
Archangel M
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Agreed. However..in my jurisdiction the neighboring City is notorious for not removing steals from the hot sheet for MONTHS. We get the owner driving them 8-9 times out of 10.
So...if (for example) the registered owner is a 22 Y/O female, or a 73 Y/O man and the person driving it looks to be the same we dont ALWAYS do a felony stop. 4-6 males (or a mixed group) or some sign like a broken window and thats an entirely different matter.
So. Rule of thumb is "I always do a felony stop on a steal"...but thats not always hard and fast. I still do a very cautious approach.
We do something like this, a variation on a theme, with the same end results. It just depends on manning and the situation. Safety first and it's only a car, follow it until cover arrives, nothing wrong with that.
In Police work, from my limited experience, it is complacency and bad luck that kills.
In my area I have seen this. Four guys in a vehicle reported stolen, and they are told to get out over the PA. The Driver ended up being the owners son, he "forgot" to tell his parents he was taking the car.
Hard lesson for the kid(s) or a waste of time for the police?
It's a situational call. Always, backup should be on the way. Perfect world, you get the hit, and get everyone in place before the stop. Whether it's a full out felony stop or more managed but less "hostile" approach is a call based on all the information available. If it's daytime, or I've otherwise had a glance at the driver, that can shift the mode, for example. But one advantage of starting lower key is the chance that they might figure it's just a speeding or traffic violation, and not create a pursuit situation, whereas the full out felony/high risk stop approach kind of gives away that you know you're looking at a stolen vehicle. Also depends on whether it was just the tag reported or the vehicle... I can't tell you how many people don't listen to our strong advice to make getting new tags a priority when they report one stolen...
Reality is that you don't always know until you've got the car stopped...
Bit of both, Rich. Sounds like an unauthorized use case where prosecution will be declined... and the original reporting agency probably won't do the false report case, either. (Yeah, I've run into more than one incidence where it was intended as an object lesson for the kid...)
ballen0351
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I couldnt do it Louisville Ky is to far of a drive to work.
AFAIK, the guys where I work, do not treat it as a felony stop, but a back-up or 2 is always sent. Of course, IMHO, mv stops, whether they're routine or something more, should always be treated with alot of caution. You never know what you're walking up on.
sgtmac_46
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Actually the plates come back stolen, not the vehicle........still a misdemeanor.
May justify a lot more, vehicle could be stolen, too, or the driver may be involved in some serious criminal activity.........but the actual response itself was for stolen plates, so that's all we have at this point.......we don't have an actual felony yet.
