Here’s what to do in an encounter with law enforcement – The Lawrence Times

Share this post or save for later

At the end of the day, both the driver getting pulled over and the officer making the stop want to make it home safely.

Lt. Myrone Grady of the Lawrence Police Department and Neosho County Attorney Linus Thuston shared some advice on how to do that with a few dozen community members Saturday evening at Victory Bible Church.

Most interactions with law enforcement occur in traffic stops, so much of Saturdays talk focused on safety during those uncomfortable moments.

Grady, LPDs first executive officer for diversity and community engagement, noted that Kansas passed a law in 2015 that allows anyone ages 21 and older to carry a concealed gun with or without a permit.

Im not here to try to garner any type of sympathy for what it is we have to deal with on our end because that is a me problem, not a you problem, Grady said. I treat everybody and its kind of sad, but this is the way it is now like they are armed, because its not illegal to be armed anymore.

As a supervisor now, Grady doesnt make traffic stops himself, but he reflected on the years that he did.

I would tell everybody, Look, slow down, take a deep breath, because we only get really one chance to do this thing right. And if we do it right, everybody goes home and does the things that they need to do based on the situation.

Rather than be confrontational during a traffic stop or in any interaction with police its better to exercise your right to remain silent.

Thuston said that oftentimes we may say things that are incriminating, or we might say things we dont mean when were emotional. People are generally better off when they invoke their right to remain silent.

However, he said, you should provide your identification.

Thuston said that as an officer approaches a vehicle, theyre conducting a threat assessment. Here are some suggestions he shared:

Pull over as soon as you safely can. The officer can tell you to pull forward if necessary, but stopping immediately is important.

Thuston said he turns on the vehicles interior lights and rolls down all the windows not just the drivers side so the officer can see clearly inside as they approach.

Keep your insurance and registration information tucked into the sun visor rather than in a glove compartment or center console. Thuston suggested also putting your wallet on the dashboard so your drivers license is easy to access. Reaching into the glovebox, center console or your back pocket could make an officer nervous.

Thuston said he still has a landline with an answering machine. He dials that number and puts his cellphone on speaker so that there will be an audio recording of the stop elsewhere.

Keep your hands at the 10 oclock and 2 oclock positions on the steering wheel and dont make any quick movements.

Thuston said social media is not a good place to learn your rights. One example he cited was some who say officers must have a reasonable, articulable suspicion for a traffic stop. Thats true, Thuston said but they dont necessarily have to tell you what that reason is.

If you ask Why did you pull me over? and they dont give you an immediate response, that does not give you a reason to say Im not gonna be cooperative because you didnt give me the reason for the stop, Thuston said.

If its a bad stop, that can be addressed in court, he said. But the side of the road is not the courtroom.

In addition to the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent rather than give testimony or simply say something that might incriminate yourself, Thuston highlighted the Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures, and the Sixth Amendment right to defense counsel.

Legal experts with the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas compiled a guide that is available free online.

Some audience members asked questions at the end of the speakers presentations. Here are a few of those questions and answers:

Thuston and Grady said if you can provide information such as the time, date and location of the incident or interaction, the department should be able to determine officers who were present through records kept.

Dont ever let that discourage you from reporting an encounter. If you feel in your heart that you want that report because a lot of times, if people dont report, we dont know, Grady said. And if we dont know, we cant really do much about it. We want to know who those people are.

Thuston said if no one is willing to be a witness, historically, thats hurt us across this country when weve had bad actors. Oftentimes citizens dont want to be snitches or get involved and then that same person stays on the street, year in and year out, doing the exact same behavior, Thuston said.

LPDs logs of calls are also available on our site going back to Jan. 1, 2020.Those can help pinpoint an incident and the number that is attached to it in the police departments computer system.

According to the Lawrence Police Departments policy manual, body-worn camera recordings associated with traffic citations will be maintained for one year. Recordings associated with more serious charges and incidents, ranging from traffic accidents to homicides, are kept between two years and forever.

If there was no citation issued or the recordings arent associated with more serious offenses or complaints, or they are deemed to not have evidentiary value, body-worn camera recordings can be erased after 90 days.

In addition, I dont think anybody gets rid of their dispatching recordings, Thuston said, which include the time, date, location and a brief description of the call. Those things stay around indefinitely.

Below are the Lawrence Police Departments policies on body-worn camera footage and record retention:

LPDs full policy manual is available via this link. The department also follows this guidance from the Kansas State Historical Society.

No, Grady said. If an officers holster is open and theres nothing holding their gun in there, they probably just forgot to close it, but we dont just, as soon as we get out of the car, boom boom, open up our holsters and have it ready to go, Grady said. Thats not something we teach people. They shouldnt be doing stuff like that.

Saturdays event was sponsored by the Lawrence Ecumenical Fellowship Inc., Legacy Work LLC, Sankofa Tumi LLC, SWAP, and the Lawrence Branch NAACP.

If our journalism matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.

Support The Lawrence Times

Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com or 785-422-6363. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

Share this post or save for later

Bridge improvement work along a roughly 9-mile stretch of K-10 between Eudora and K-7 is set to begin Monday, and its expected to continue through early December.

Share this post or save for later

A city proposal to cut its portion of funding for the Lawrence Humane Society by about 27% has sparked worry from the organizations staff about how the cut could affect their ability to care for local pets.

Share this post or save for later

The Lawrence school board on Monday will consider a third proposal to change student fees, which would add fees for students who qualify for reduced-price lunches; new meal prices; and some organizational updates.

Share this post or save for later

Community members, artists and authors are invited to gather together Sunday morning to celebrate the Wakarusa Wetlands, an area deeply tied to Indigenous history in Lawrence and home to a variety of animal species and nature.

MORE

Read more here:
Here's what to do in an encounter with law enforcement - The Lawrence Times