I am writing this letter to express my concern for police officer safety within the York County region. It is unnerving to witness how these officers conduct themselves while monitoring an individual that has been placed under arrest.
Police officers will allow these individuals to be taken out of their handcuffs and will expose their "gun side" to them while remaining oblivious to the fact that a volatile individual is now unrestrained, it is astonishing how these officers turn their backs on these individuals while they are unrestrained when at anytime these individuals can attempt to flee or attack the officer. I believe that officer safety is extremely important and it has been my experience that many officers seem to lack this training or feel that they are invincible. If a dangerous individual that they have capture is able to escape and further elude police they pose a threat to the safety of citizens.
Another aspect regarding the law enforcement agencies in this area is practices of traffic enforcement. There are many areas throughout York County, Pennsylvania that are notorious for winding roads and poor road construction. All of these factors contribute to the unsafe situations that law enforcement officers place themselves and other motorists in while performing the functions of their jobs. A traffic stop is one of the most dangerous duties that law enforcement officers will encounter during their careers. The risk level is compounded when these officers make traffic stops on poorly lit and marked roads. I am not saying that these officers should not conduct traffic stops at night; however they should not stop a vehicle in the middle of the lane of travel around a bend or over the crest of a hill.
Matthew Zaryk
York College of Pennsylvania
Dear Matt;
One would first have to ask what experience and background do you have in Law Enforcement ?
At some point EVERY person who was handcuffed has them taken off. Officers are quite aware of having to deal with various types of people under all sorts of circumstances. Officers are of course aware of their sidearm being exposed.
Officers do not with reckless abandon offer their " gun side" to someone but at some point , we have to continue to do our function. Officers have wepaons retention holsters which make it difficult for the average person to simply grab and remove a sidearm.
Please remind us of the last time someone was even remotely successful at gaining an officers sidearm here in York County ? have criminals tried to grab an officers sidearm ? Yes. Have criminals tried to assault an officer ? Yes. have criminals tried.....? Yes.
Traffic Enforcement.
Officers do try to stop persons in certain places but sometimes people either dont stop where they are supposed to or they use no common sense when they do finally stop. Officers are quite aware of the topography of the County and since the world isn't flat , they end up stopping them at the best spot they can , due to the circumstances.
People need to SLOW down when approaching a police car with it's lights on ( plus fire trucks and ambulances) and take it easy as they navigate around them. Neither the County or the state has seen fit to make extra wide shoulders so you'll just have to deal with it the best that you can as they do.
Finally, there is going to be a Police Consortium testing in march or April. Stop by and show everyone of your prowess involving your LE background...there could be a future at stake ??