QUESTION FOR LAPD VETS.

[crazyphil]

I have been watching reruns of old Adam 12 programs.
I noticed every time they arrest someone, they put him in
the back seat. Then officer Reed gets in on the arrestees
left side. Since Reed is right handed, this puts his revolver
right next to the arrestee. Seems to me setting on the arrestees
right side would be safer. What was the training?

 

[Old cop]

I’m not LAPD but those scenes never made sense to me either. I’m a leftie and we did not ride two to a car unless one was a rookie, like Reed. Our cruisers all had cages & bad guys went back there, on the right and not behind the driver even with the cage.

 

[Buford57]

I’m not LAPD but those scenes never made sense to me either. I’m a leftie and we did not ride two to a car unless one was a rookie, like Reed. Our cruisers all had cages & bad guys went back there, on the right and not behind the driver even with the cage.

All of the above, except the southpaw part. I recall being trained if you had to transport a prisoner in a solo car without a cage (i.e. an unmarked) the prisoner should be belted into the front passenger seat and we should remove our duty gun from the holster and put it inside the waistband of our pants on the left side. I managed to avoid doing that.

 

[JayCeeNC]

Officer safety issue.
Never put an arrestee in the back seat directly behind the driver.

 

[crazyphil]

Jack Webb was such a stickler for authenticity, that must be just one
that got by him.

 

[Kevin J.]

Jack Webb was such a stickler for authenticity, that must be just one
that got by him.

I read somewhere that clips from One Adam 12 were used in LAPD and other academy trading videos back in the day. Has anyone else heard that, or better yet verify?

 

[sipowicz]

Not sure about the 60s but Now criminals in LA are allowed to ride in the front. They also get to choose the radio station on their way to being booked. If arrested in the morning they will most likely be released by lunchtime so you are required to take them for a bite. Afternoon arrests require a late snack and possibly dinner. It’s pretty much the same as in NYC.

 

[crazyphil]

JayCeeNC _ That is a good point.

 

[Buford57]

Not sure about the 60s but Now criminals in LA are allowed to ride in the front. They also get to choose the radio station on their way to being booked. If arrested in the morning they will most likely be released by lunchtime so you are required to take them for a bite. Afternoon arrests require a late snack and possibly dinner. It’s pretty much the same as in NYC.

And then dancing?

 

[mscampbell2734]

Officer safety issue.
Never put an arrestee in the back seat directly behind the driver.

What he said. Arrestee goes on the passenger side. If the partner officer is right handed then so be it.

 

[Mike 139]

I retired from one of the largest cities in the state…Arrestees were ALWAYS handcuffed behind their back and than thoroughly searched before being placed in the back of the Unit…All the Marked Cars had cages, except for the Sgt./Cars…Early Holsters were the Jordan Border Patrol (No retention) or the Clamshell swivel…along about 1975, Rogers developed the S3 Retention Holster that was later bought out by Safariland…We had to purchase our own weapons, but the City provided everything else, including the top of the line Safariland SS3 retention holster, which I used from the late 70s until retirement.

It worked and worked well….I remember a Subject burglarized a Residence and found the Elderly Homeowner in her Bedroom, after sexually assaulting her, She had a broken neck and wasn’t found for three days… She survived…Crime scene came up with prints and an ID….I got a call the subject was hiding at his Grandmothers house…I arrived and grabbed him from under a bed and cuffed him, as I was taking him out to one of the Units, His 90 pound scrawny Grandmother jumped on my right side holding onto my holstered pistol and dragging her feet…There was a crowd of 20-30 outside and I threw the Subject into the back of one of the Units and peeled granny off me and handed her over to the other Officer for Obstruction… The rocks and bottles were flying..The SS3 works…


Joe Wambaugh was a LAPD Sgt. that wrote several books and movies made based on true stories of life in LAPD.

 

[Mike in Reedley]

They search, then handcuff people, even when they know they’re going to arrest them. It’s handcuff, then search.

 

[Breaker]

In the early 80’s in Los Angeles County my agency transported with 2 officers and the passenger officer sat behind the driver in the back seat. If personnel shortages prevented this we had an eye bolt in the floor board of the front passenger seat to secure the feet with a hobble and/or attach the cuffs to the floor board. Things evolved later in my career with dedicated transport vans and rear seat cages that were much more secure. Cops were generally bigger back then and cages weren’t very popular with the big folks due to cramped leg room for the front seat driver/passenger.

 

[Old cop]

In the early 80’s in Los Angeles County my agency transported with 2 officers and the passenger officer sat behind the driver in the back seat. If personnel shortages prevented this we had an eye bolt in the floor board of the front passenger seat to secure the feet with a hobble and/or attach the cuffs to the floor board. Things evolved later in my career with dedicated transport vans and rear seat cages that were much more secure. Cops were generally bigger back then and cages weren’t very popular with the big folks due to cramped leg room for the front seat driver/passenger.

I’m 6’ 2”, 200 but our fleet consisted of the big Fords & Chevys in the early ‘70s so there was sufficient leg room.

 

[Kevin J.]

I read his books back in the day. His best IMO.

The Blue Knight. The classic beat cop.

Choirboys. Kind of the Animal House of cops.

And on the dark side of the spectrum.

The Onion Field.

 

[Aircrewman]

JayCeeNC has it right. And the reasoning is to keep the suspect as far from the Officer/Deputy driver to prevent any attempts to interfere with the driver officer. The Officer/Deputy is in a position to block or keep the suspect from attempting to injure or bother the driver of the vehicle. Weapon safety was certainly a factor but cuffed behind the back mitigates any real issue to do a gun grab.....

 

[CALREB]

Adam 12 may be how things were supposed to be done. But if things were done like Adam 12 not much would have gotten done. I'm still waiting for the episode where they handle 30 plus radio calls in a shift.
Don't get me wrong I love Adam 12 , but Hill St. Blues is a bit more realistic...

 

[Bekeart]

Check Your Calendar

Not sure about the 60s but Now criminals in LA are allowed to ride in the front. They also get to choose the radio station on their way to being booked. If arrested in the morning they will most likely be released by lunchtime so you are required to take them for a bite. Afternoon arrests require a late snack and possibly dinner. It’s pretty much the same as in NYC.

Check Your Calendar.
This was posted April 2 - NOT April 1.

Bekeart
A day late and two dollars short - inflation you know.

 

[SG-688]

They search, then handcuff people, even when they know they’re going to arrest them. It’s handcuff, then search.

Adam-12 portrays the way it was done then.

We also used to make cold entries into a bank alarms like they do.

Tactics have changed.

 

[Old cop]

Not sure about the 60s but Now criminals in LA are allowed to ride in the front. They also get to choose the radio station on their way to being booked. If arrested in the morning they will most likely be released by lunchtime so you are required to take them for a bite. Afternoon arrests require a late snack and possibly dinner. It’s pretty much the same as in NYC.

I realize this is in jest but maybe twice in my 30 yrs I did go to McDonalds for the prisoner & paid for it. Those times I knew the back story was a lousy deal for the guy & the timing of the arrest was such that the suspect missed the meal time @ the jail. I’m betting a few other street cops here did the same thing.

 

[rockquarry]

I read his books back in the day. His best IMO.

The Blue Knight. The classic beat cop.

Choirboys. Kind of the Animal House of cops.

And on the dark side of the spectrum.

The Onion Field.

I've read most everything Wambaugh has written. His fiction books were far better, I think. Fortunately, there were many more of those. I read The Onion Field more than forty years ago. I didn't care for it and wouldn't recommend it. Some matters are better left untold.

The Blue Knight and the Choir Boys were good ones as was the made-for-TV Blue Knight movie with William Holden and Lee Remick. I think Wambaugh's best cop books were Secrets of Harry Bright and The Golden Orange.

Granted, all that has nothing to do with prisoner/ officer seating in a squad car.

 

[Old cop]

My brother called me after The Onion Field movie came out. He was in shock b/c he felt I resembled the actor, Ted Dancin (sp?), who played the murdered cop. I never saw the resemblance myself but I did enjoy all of Mr. Wamba’s books & movies.

 

[Buford57]

There's a lot of history here. Practices evolved, usually as a result of tragic mistakes. The Onion Field is one example. A week or so ago I watched an Adam 12 episode that recreated the Newhall incident in a training exercise. We heard about these situations in briefing from grim-faced sergeants and we learned and adapted. These were our Miami and LA shootouts. But perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the Onion Field is survivor's guilt and the need for after-action support.