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Tips on running from "The Law"

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Archer

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Some dude posted these on another site and it looked worthy of conversation here on GAF-OT.

Here is some experience I learned from working as a dispatcher when it comes to running from the law. I'm not saying you should run from the law, but here are my tips if you are dumb enough to try.

Vehicle:
Running from cops in town is more about acceleration and handling then top speed. On the interstate you need a vehicle with a good top speed, but range/gas milage becomes more important (especially if a helicopter gets invovled). A smaller vehicle can give advantages like when a motorcycle splits lanes, or maybe you can squeeze down an alleyway or something.

Lights:
Turn off your lights when you get a good lead and only use engine braking to slow for corners. If you hit the brakes, the pursuers will see when/where you turn. Otherwise, you might as well use them to help you see as you are trying to get away.

Timing:
It's best to run when the least amount of units are on the road. Usually this would be between 3:00am and 5:00am. Darkness is on your side at these times and most cops will start getting tired around these times. Hopefully the pilots will be in bed asleep and the K-9s will be fed and in bed. If you don't have this option, use traffic to your advantage. A lot of agencies call off a pursuit because of traffic

Radio:
It's almost impossible to outrun the radio, however every time you change directions the cops have to radio in the direction change so that everyone out of sight range knows where to go. When I worked in dispatch if you had a unit that was out of their zone and the person being chased changed directions a lot, the person calling out the chase had a tendency to screw up and call out the wrong road names/numbers/directions. This might be handled differently in different locations, but for the most part they should radio their current location and diretion somewhat frequently.

Agencies:
Always try to get as many agencies involved as quickly as possible by driving through different jurisdictions. Since they were dealing with multiple agencies in the example (Springdale police, Arkansas state police, Benton county SO and Washington County SO) either 1.) a lot of radio patching had to occour or 2.) Information had to be relayed from one agencies group to another. Either way the radio traffic becomes very congested very quickly and hard to follow especially if the agencies involved don't deal with pursuits often and aren't used to patching or relaying. The key here is to get as many agencies involved as quickly as possible to screw up communication between all of them. Yes, I know that this contridicts the concept of running with less units on the road, but the communication breakdown is worth it.

Agencies cont.:
Different agencies have different policies when it comes to following a vehicle. Our policy was it was okay to follow as long as it didn't endanger others unless it was a felony in which case we follow no matter what. The two main police departs within our county were really good at helping us out when we needed it reguardless of circumstances (kinda a shoot first ask questions later approach in order to handle the situation), but the SO/PD to the south worked on a ask questions first, then react if they feel it's okay (more of a react and respond approach). We had a lot of chases that ran between these two counties and it was very difficult to get the southern agencies involved. We didn't always know the charges a deputy had, just that they were following. The southern agencies would not follow without knowing the charges first so a lot of times once they hit the county line, they were safe.

Listen:
If you have a police scanner, use it! You should have atleast a 5 second lead between when you turn and when it's broadcasted over the radio the first time. If you can pull off multiple turns within that period of time before your first turn is called out, it can be really confusing to followers since you'll "jump around" on the map and everyone will become very unsure as to where exactly you are (espeically if units are out of their normal zones). Sometimes the followers may say "it looks like they are heading towards XXX". Guess where you shouldn't go.

Location:
Don't keep driving around in the same areas. That will make it very easy for more units to get involved. Avoid places that you frequent often because your vehicle description will be in the cops heads for a few weeks if not longer, but know where you are and how to get around in that area. Don't stay on main roads for too long since the cops chasing you will then have time to set up road blocks or spike strips. Try to stay in areas that have trees overhanging making it darker and harder to see you, espeically from above (in case they get the helicopter on you).

Vehicle descriptions:
When it's dark, descriptions becomes very booleen. You wouldn't belive how frustrating it was when someone would say "I didn't get a good look at their car" expeciting you to want a descripion like the color, year, make and model. What cops are looking for is way simpler. Was it a car or truck? Was it light or dark? Two door or four? Which direction was it heading? Beyond that, it doesn't matter if it's a focus, jetta or civic. It's a small light four door car heading north. Sometimes you would get someone who could tell you exactly what it was and when they did, that was great, but not as important as lot of people think.

Clothing description:
As for clothing, if you had a hat on, take it off but don't throw it where cops can find it. If they see a hat, they'll assume it was yours and have something for the K-9 to work with when they arrive. Change shirt color dramaticlly from light color to dark color, most descriptions in the dark are more generic for color (as in light colored shirt/dark pants instead of red shirt with a stripe and blue jeans). If you can switch from pants to shorts or from shorts to pants alternating darkness if possible. A good idea would be to wear a white t-shirt under a black shirt. Make sure you cannot see the white shirt so nobody knows. Then, when you are running take off the black shirt and you are wearing a differnet color (don't ditch the black shirt where the K-9 could use it). Like I said, descriptions are booleen either yes or no, one or the other, true or false, switch them as much as possible if possible.

Hiding a vehicle:
It's difficult to hide a vehicle unless you can put it inside something without anyone seeing you do that. Otherwise a big parking lot full of cars works, or possibly behind something really large (like a house). You'll need a big lead to pull this off since you'll be leaving the vehicle and getting away on foot before the cops show up. More than likely you are going to never see the vehicle again once it is found and if you are caught you'll be in jail a while.

Hiding yourself:
Get out of the area that you were last seen in. Try to find a lot of people that fit your general description near you. CALM DOWN. You will probably be sweaty and your pulse will be high. The cops will notice this and go "why is this guy sweating?" assuming that you were the one that was running. Prepare your alabi before you get caught.

If you are lucky, the cops will stop the chase for fear that you are going to hurt someone, but they will remember your car and keep looking for you. We had one night where we chased the same car 3 or 4 times as it came back into our jurisdiction (and then back to the southern jurisdiction where they did nothing since we didn't have charges). I don't remember if we ever caught the car but I'm sure it was in a lot of units heads for a while.

buck_thumbs_up.jpg
 
Great post. I'll never use, but great. The best is if you live next to a state line. You can just cross the border and voila home free.

edit: Thanks Jody, I felt really dumb right there :)
 

Peru

Member
Run! If you sell drugs in the school zone
Run! If you gettin' chased with no shoes on
Run! Fuck that! Run! Cops got, guns!
They givin' out life like bird tons
Run! If you ain't do shit, you it
That next felony, nigga, it's like three zip
So, run! Hop fences, jump over benches!
When you see me comin' get the fuck out the entrance!
Run! Fuck that! Run! Cops got guns! Muthafucka..
 
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