To all police officers, a question?

Question

Why don't the officers, after stopping the driver, immediately ask them to remove their key from the ignition and give it to the officer (to prevent them from driving away)? This may prevent a lot of chases, use of their stop sticks, their P.I.T. maneuver, and worst of all, car crashes.

Thank you for your feedback.

Answer 1

People don't run after they stop, they run before they stop.

100% of them? No, but easily the vast majority of cases.

Answer 2

There is no reason to take possession of a persons property.. Most people don't run after they have been engaged in conversation with the officer.  In cases when you do have to ask for the key, for the tow driver say,  car owners get upset and a situation will escalate unnecessarily.  Finally, the last thing anyone wants to deal with is the person complaining that we somehow copied there keys while we had them or that now a key is missing etc.....

Answer 3

i don't know how much tv you watch but 99% of the time people just stop and when they stop they usually dont drive off. just like 99% of the time police confrontations end peacefully meaning there was no fight other than a verbal argument maybe.

Answer 4

to avoid a rabbit==take off

Answer 5

Very few people drive off after being stopped.  It is the ones that don't stop that create a pursuit (failure to stop).  

Answer 6

Because there is no legal justification for taking the person's keys for starters.  Cops just can't take possession of people's property because they want to.  Also, people who flee more often than not never pull over to start with, and the rest would just take off as soon as you asked for the keys.  In the several pursuits I was in, none took place in a manner where asking for the keys was even an option.

Answer 7

its not part of the standard procedures for a traffic stop.

Answer 8

.   I was thinking of that today.  Did you ever see that officer in New York who punished drivers by taking their keys and throwing them as far as he could.  But he didn't lock them up and he could have.  When they showed it on tv, he took early retirement.  I think you have a great idea.  Citizens don't agree with us.