Training to Expect the Unexpected

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Safety is always a top priority for those who serve and protect.  Chief Hinton says this was supposed to be a routine traffic stop for Officer Taylor.  He pulled the vehicle over for following another car too closely.  It was a minor traffic violation, but of course it turned out to be a dangerous situation. 

Chief Hinton says Officer Taylor did all the right things.  He called the license plate number into dispatch.  He didn't wait for a response probably because it can take days to get information about a stolen vehicle.   So we wanted to know, how are officers trained to expect the unexpected?  We went inside the Police Academy at Pitt Community College to see just how officers are trained for moments like this one. 

They prepare for it every day.

“We use the words routine, routine stop and really nothing in our line of work is really routine,” said Jeff Hinton, Roanoke Rapids Chief of Police. 

“You just never know who you're stopping,” said Jeff Robinson, PCC Public Safety Dir. 

Robinson says the unpredictable nature of a traffic stop ranks it as one of the most dangerous encounters for law enforcement.  “The most dangerous time is your approach from your vehicle now to approaching the suspect vehicle.”

Robinson says officers are trained to approach on the passenger side to avoid interstate traffic.  “And if you go to the passenger side approach, most people are not expecting you to be there so it gives you in some ways an element of surprise.”

But Taylor was the one caught off guard.  Chief Hinton says three seconds after Taylor approached the window the suspects began shooting, hitting Taylor in the neck, hand, and upper torso.  Chief Hinton says Officer Taylor was wearing his bullet proof vest at the time of the traffic stop.  He says it's what saved his life. 

Robinson says it's something every officer in training is taught from the very beginning.  “Anytime the uniform is on, the vest is on,” he said. 

At the end of the day, officers are trained to know what's safe. 

“All of our officers are safe but he is on of my more safety conscious officers,” said Chief Hinton. 

But when they're in the field, Robinson says every situation is different and they have to decide the right way to handle it.  Chief Hinton says because Officer Taylor was wearing his bullet proof vest, he was able to call for help.