Police officers, what is something suspicious people do that normal people don't? - (r/AskReddit)

our slash ass credit cops of reddit a lot of people get jumpy and try to act normal around law enforcement how can you tell genuinely suspicious people from self-conscious idiots acting weird I knew a police helicopter pilot and I asked a similar question when searching for suspects he said that the bad guys were the ones not looking up at the helicopter innocent people look point stare etc I thought it was funny but true to a point I was taking the bins out one dark night and there was a police helicopter nearby all of a sudden they lit me up with the spotlight I was like a deer in the headlights and after a second or two slowly waved at them and then after a few more seconds the spotlight moved on elsewhere it was so awkward they must have been pissing themselves laughing holdover for being lost in the wrong neighborhood was relieved as I did not have a GPS at the time horribly lost was hoping the cop that had been tailing me for the last mile would pull me over to get directions wants to know why a white boy like me is in a neighborhood like this I explained I'm lost doesn't believe me says I'm here for drugs my whole attitude changed because I'm suddenly nervous why would he think that and realizing this could go badly he said only guilty people act nervous he ends up calling a k-9 units to search my car other cop is really cool we chat and he apologized for first cop being a jerk after search he gives me directions on how to get to my destination good cop bad cop is real the funny thing is if I'm off-duty and around a uniformed officer I don't know different depth area etc I get nervous he'll my heart sometimes skips a beat when I see one of our own cars driving down the road even though it may be the same exact vehicle I was assigned to just a few hours ago my point is I think pretty much everyone gets nervous around a cop most people will avoid you and not make eye contact but what really stands out from the are the adults that will periodically look at you or you feel them staring at you like they're trying to read your face I've had to arrest a lot of people over the years many of em are back out on the streets your post reminds me of a funny piece of info a good friend of mine works as a lawyer for one of the bigger insurance companies and defense a good percent of accidents happen because people freaked out about the mere presence of the cop and don't focus on the actual driving like literally during a deposition I didn't see them pull out there was the cop on the same road I'm one of those jumpy people I've been pulled over and screamed at why are you so nervous what are you hiding and another time the cop was very nice and just said relax it's just a ticket are you ok do you want to catch your breath not a big deal take a couple deep breaths buddy super friendly and helped me relax I get anxiety in those situations without any real cause I just get really nervous it's crazy how differently cops can handle a situation in the exact same circumstances just one was nicer or trained better cop here I'll give a serious answer instead of all the others assuming this is on a traffic stop for the most part if you are acting jumpy I try to figure out why and remove that stress if I can't figure it out on my own I'll just simply ask common answers are I don't like cops I don't want a ticket and so on my reasoning for this is if you're relaxed and I ask if there are any weapons in the car and your stress indicators skyrocket when you say no something is wrong if you're already stressed I won't be able to see that reaction as others have stated it's not 100 percent some people are just nervous Nellie's I try to calm people down for their sanity and my safety but it doesn't always work every time I get pulled over as soon as my tag is run through the system the police get on their bullhorn and tell me to get out and lay on the ground not because I'm black because I'm a two-time convicted felon beam crime free for six years but I always find it amusing and after all the foolishness I always have a laugh with them Diwali fell I have anxiety every time a copper pulls me over I look guilty but really I'm scared of unwarranted police violence and nervous about how much money today's ticket will cost me police always notice and they always say that makes me suspicious so they have reason to ask to search me and my possessions I feel like I can't be the only innocent person in the world who gets the jumps around police but they always act like I'm the first person they've ever encountered who acts guilty when I haven't actually done anything police instructor here you look for what is out of place context if everyone is looking at an event or certain direction and that one person is staring at you or in the completely opposite direction that's the oddball people draw attention to themselves by behavior that is different from the environment or expected of the environment that they're in it's how they identified the Boston bombers everyone was looking in the direction of the explosion but the brothers were staring in the opposite direction suspicious behavior this technique can be applied to clothing as well of its summer and you see people wearing heavy jackets there's something odd somebody keeps tapping the waist line and there's no reason for him to do that like something falling off of it and there's something tucked in their waistline drugs or weapons now not saying that this gives you an excuse to go up and start harassing people however it have definitely lets you narrow down the focus of your attention for what is out of place cops once woke me up at 3 a.m. in the morning because my neighbor saw flashlights in woods next to my house and then they started questioning me asking me why I seemed so nervous and if I wasn't doing anything why were there footprints in the snow in front of my duck I'm front-door I was a 19 year old kid living on my own in a small town so small it didn't have a population I just remember being absolutely flabbergasted and why they would want to know why someone might be nervous from getting a visit from the cops in the middle of the night and why they thought footprints in a heavily traveled area were suspicious I basically told them some variation of EPs and then told them they were welcome to look around outside if they wanted before they left this was during deer hunting season in Wisc on so the only thing I could think of is that maybe they thought there was some poaching going on still it showed a remarkable detachment from reality that they couldn't understand why I was so nervous to begin with actual police officer here verified in our / protect and serve there really is no magic answer there is a ton of overlap between both groups and anyone who says they can consistently spot the difference is lying to you I'd rather judge the situation based on the objective facts rather than my gut feeling random story so not long after I got my license I was driving around and at a stoplight there was the cop behind me I hadn't done anything wrong cops at that point didn't freak me out yet and I even knew a kid in school who was planning to become one the light turns green and I go I noticed behind me everyone is behind the cop on all lanes it weirded me out usually there are cars passing me or next to me people were giving the cop a nice wide berth or at least not wanting to drive ahead of it it made me feel paranoid and I checked my speed I was actually going slower than the speed limit after I figured out everyone was just being paranoid I sped up to the speed limit and that was that the cop was driving slower than the speed limit and I drove off leaving them all behind I feel like the cop probably thought it was hilarious that his presence was slowing down traffic because it wasn't like he was trying to control it his lights weren't on since then I've had plenty of speeding tickets plenty plenty but not on that day cops freak me out now - ha every time I see one I go oh [ __ ] speed limit I'm okay car functioning right yes drugs in the car wait I don't do drugs it's a tense situation not a cop banana Florida native and I'm usually dressed in shorts and a t-shirt I was in a flier of a state for a concert and it was supposed to pick someone up about four hours away in the morning instead of getting a hotel for five hours I decided to drive to my destination and sleep in the back of the rental car usually when I do this I roll the windows down and sleep with the car off but it was in the mid 30s this night I pulled into a vacant parking lot next to a vacant building outside of town turns out I was still in city limits I tried to turn the running lights off but wasn't able to this eventually attracted the attention of the local law enforcement I woke to a flashlight banging on my window they all nine of them wanted me out of the car while they tried to figure out what was going on being as it was cold I started to shake I shared how I thought it was amusing that I was shaking in that it would likely raise suspicion the cop that was babysitting me at that moment said no it's cold out she then let me get into the car and start it again nine stroke ten would recommend not a cop but having worked at a pawn shop I will say they talked way too much when the customer was trying to pull something on us most would talk a lot about nothing keep up a constant stream of chatter of course this is in no way a 100% indicator but it was one sign we looked for Lars will usually offer additional explanations and excuses for something even when you don't ask mostly because they assume you doubt what they'll say and feel the need to back up their claims imagine a friend is late and he says oh sorry I forgot and move on that's probably true because he didn't even consider for a moment you might doubt that that same friend shows up late but starts explaining in details why they are late and add more and more details to that story even though you didn't ask they might be making [ __ ] up and trying to present a more finite flawless story edit some people are pointing out this only applies to bad lives done of course tips for spotting obvious liars only apply to people who didn't perfect the art I don't put much consideration on someone's nervousness to the likeliness of them committing a crime we need reasons or probable cause to determine that however someone's jump in us is a tactical cue to me that they may more likely run or fight especially if I already have probable cause of a crime occurring most people are scared when stopped by the police but this fear is different than jumping us fear is a little more subdued than the 10 of someone looking for an escape another consideration is that if someone suffers from a mental illness their symptoms are usually clearly different than someone who is plain scared or jumping also someone who is affected by drugs clearly has distinct signs it's pretty complicated to explain but simple when observing it in person every day there's a bit in Bryan Cranston's book where he talks about his time as a security guard his talent was spotting about to be sharp left toes his advice people come to stores because they want something specific in and out watch for the linger Asst UK veteran and ex Metropolitan Police UK here I've just found it's all down to experience when reading people your mentor is everything and should be a wealth of knowledge learn from them also the weirdos tend to be regulars and someone will know them and tell you all you need to know edit the regulars will be in an Intel database somewhere so any safety issues should made aware to you from control this includes known aliases great question I'm a cop in Arizona it's important to know the cultural and societal norms of your patrol area a huge amount of folks carry guns here for example your average law-abiding citizen will generally use a holster and not be deceptive about the weapon bad guys will not be forthcoming we have some issues with Mexican drug cartels and they tend to blend in somewhat but have guns and unique calibers such as 0.38 super since we do have a huge Hispanic community it helps to know the norms for their behavior which differs somewhat from the white community a vast majority of the time we will be dealing with people while investigating specific crimes there's a huge variety of factors involved in that but generally speaking you are gonna use four of your senses to make educated guesses sight smell touch sound a person whose voice wavers may just be afraid of cops combine that with an odor of drugs or a suspicious protrusion on their body then there could be an issue while cultural knowledge is important there are some Universal signs of deception which you would probably recognize I spent a year in Afghanistan doing police work as well and those principles held true there to to a degree it's profiling which is a dirty word but a pragmatic principle and questions fire away ex-cop still licensed if that matters you can't always tell that is why treating everyone as close to the same as possible is important the average person will change their behavior around a police officer at least a little bit it can be a weird / respectful type deal or they may shut down completely the average criminal acts nearly the same however that is why it's important to be very aware of the person's movements and responses to questions or your own movements if you ask a person with drugs in the car do you have drugs in the car his eyes will very commonly dart towards where he or she is hiding something even if it is not drugs that of course does not give me probable cause to tear their car apart looking for stuff it's just a red flag a person who is simply nervous and is not really guilty of a crime will most likely just break eye contact and look somewhere such as out the window behind you down at the wheel etc same goes for a person you may simply be suspicious of on the street are you carrying any weapons will led to a person carrying a weapon to often touch the area where it is usually repeatedly or start to look at where they have hidden a weapon a person who has just nervous probably won't grab their waistband several times after that question that is just one example but it shows the importance of communication being aware of the surroundings and subject and why asking questions is very important all because a person who is simply nervous and a criminal who is nervous are almost indistinguishable without some digging as for people who appear totally 100% calm well that in and of itself can be a red flag as well maybe he or she is calm because they like police maybe they are police in a different area maybe they really do simply have nothing to hide in a good understanding of police procedures or they are a hardened criminal that has no sense of remorse or anxiety over meeting a cop you never know unless you start to look deeper so to anyone who feels like cops hate you or are mean maybe that sheds a bit of light on things good cue I never feel I act normal around cops funny thing is I have to place relatives who are cops when I act normal around them they tell me I should respect that they're cops sorry does this illegal activity that we are both participating and doing bother you all of a sudden Flo you made it to the end you're ducking Beast I'll cut you a deal smash like and subscribe for more curated content might it's free and that's a great price

Channel: Sir Reddit

Views: 960,884

Rating: 4.9216051 out of 5

Keywords: reddit, askreddit, askreddit funny, top posts, top posts of r/, r/, r/askreddit, reddit top posts, reddit cringe, comedy, reddit compilation, top posts of all time, askreddit question, askreddit top posts, ask reddit, askreddit reading, subreddit, reddit stories, best of r/askreddit, funny reddit, best reddit posts, best of reddit, emkay, ToadFilms, sir reddit, doctor reddit, reddit and chill, suspicious, cops

Id: OsGaw_w6NPk

Length: 15min 55sec (955 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 24 2019