Officer Safety: Spotting a Hidden Handgun
Soldier Systems Daily has republished a piece with direct officer safety implications that are just as pertinent today as the were two decades ago, written by NYPD Detective Robert Gallagher back in 1992. It’s well worth reading thi
s article on identifying suspects with concealed weapons. About Det. Gallagher, from the original interview:
He was a New York City policeman for 18 years, who for much of that time worked as a plain-clothes undercover detective (anti-robbery tactical unit, confiscating illegal firearms) in Bronx & Manhattan, 6pm to 2am shift. He got very good at picking out people carrying weapons. So good that he received 1984 Governor’s Police Officer of the Year Award. The great achievement was not just making gun arrests (1200 of them), but making them stick. The letter nominating him said he had ‘an almost flawless conviction rate’. I believe he put it at ’99.99′.
That’s the whole point of his observation–not just to get a gun off the street, and then maybe have the arrest thrown out, which apparently happens too often–but to get from arrest to conviction and jail time. It’s all about probable cause, he explained. First identify suspicious demeanor, appearance, behavior (which don’t qualify as grounds for arrest), and then wait for probable cause, or legal grounds for frisking and/or arresting someone. He pretty much had to watch for enough clues to justify suspicion, which would allow him to stop a suspect. Then he’d identify himself as a policeman, and then he’d watch for the hand reaching toward the waistband, or the guy instinctively turning away, and pulling his arm in to his side. That would combine to give probable cause for a frisk. And when there’s a frisk and a weapon, there’s an arrest, and apparently with Gallagher, very often a conviction. The sequence is necessary, in the context of suspects’ rights and legal requirements for arrest–evidence must exist that rises above suspicion to probable cause…
For another excellent article, one that goes into much greater detail, read this article by a US Secret Service academy instructor on noticing the subtle clues indicating you’re dealing with an armed suspect.
Be polite and respectful to everyone you meet; but have a plan to kill every one of them if they force you to take that action.
The BOLO Report 
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