(Article courtesy of Tactical Life)

We live in a mobile society. Cars are everywhere, and in law enforcement, they serve as our mobile offices. At the start of a shift, unless you are assigned a take-home car, you head out from roll call to find your patrol car. After an inspection to make sure the previous shift didn’t miss any contraband left by a suspect, you load up the gear you’ll need for a shift. Long guns, gear bags—everything from a report case to a lunch box gets stowed in the front passenger compartment or trunk, and off you go, chasing calls.

Bad guys are going to work behind the wheel as well. Armed robbers, dopers, burglars—all ply their trades using their cars, or somebody else’s, to transport themselves from the site of one crime or criminal activity to the next. Frequently the two meet—most times without violence. But sometimes the clash, or crash for that matter, is violent.

Additionally, the problem of officers being assaulted in their vehicles and on foot exists. We bring ourselves to the fight or the call behind the wheel of a police car. Per the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) data on officers killed in 2013, “Ambush attacks were again the leading circumstance of officer fatalities in firearms-related deaths.”

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Photo courtesy of Tactical Life