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A guide written by Jarz.


Synopsis

This particular guide will focus on several aspects of Law Enforcement. You will find this useful should you be interested in roleplaying your usual beat cop. Detective work will not be dealt with thoroughly in this guide. I will demonstrate several S.W.A.T. techniques I have learned first hand in the academy, as well as a few close friends of mine, who happen to have been Force Recon, and have fought in the Battle of Mogadishu and other battles during that time period. By the end of this guide. I will outline how to perform your job from a legal standpoint, not from the standpoint of what seems right.

Index

0. Credentials
1. Introduction
2. Spawning in
3. Traffic Stops
4. Opening Fire
5. Radio Communication
6. Pursuit
7. S.W.A.T.
8. Scenarios
9. Final Thoughts.


0. Credentials

I started off in the police explorers at the age of 14, and worked through it until I was 18. The department put me through an academy program, saving me four thousand dollars in exchange for me working for that department. I graduated that academy. I am now looking for a college to study Psychology, then I will work for that department full time as a Law Enforcement Officer (LEO from this point on.)


1. Introduction

By you reading this guide/handbook, that proves that you are interested in bettering your roleplaying capabilites, or just trying to learn something about a particular career. This guide will help you in real life, considering these are real tactics that are used daily by LEOs.

Just because you possess a gun on-spawn, this does not mean you necessarily have to use it every chance you get. In reality, guns never leave their holsters for a long, long time. In fact, many departments require reports written every time an issued handgun leaves its holster. What I am trying to say, is that you don't need a gun to be a cop. I hope this guide helps solidify that. Roleplaying a proper cop can be very fun if done properly. Also, I'm going to say it here. Handcuff anybody and everybody if you have to. Detaining a person is not illegal if you have a "probable cause" they commited a crime, or a "reasonable suspicion". So taking away the opportunity for them to murder you is always good!

Let's get started.


2. Spawning In

Upon spawning in, several things should be done. First is to ensure your pistol is in working order. In reality, you check to see if it is functional, however due to limitations, simply making sure your gun is in the UP position instead of facing downward is recommended. The last thing you need to have is a gunman about to shoot you, and you need to hit E+R first before firing.
Something else that should be done with the pistol is to make sure it is properly loaded. Again, due to limitations of the gamemode, simply ensure that your weapon is fully loaded, WITH a bullet in the chamber and a full magazine. You never know when that last bullet might save your life.

Something that should be done after that is clearing your vehicle of any abnormalities. Several minute tests are ran every shift change on squad cars these days to make sure there is no abnormal faults. This could be a blown siren/light battery, blown light bulbs, not enough power, malfunctioning police computer (MPC), or even a busted long gun rack. Due to limitations, simply ensure that your preferred siren is set (more about that in pursuits.), a good button is set up in /vcmod, and test that it works. You should not have to do this after the first time settling in your squad car, however it's a good habit to get into.
Also, have your lights bound to a good button as well, set your favorite light setting on, and test it.

Lastly, saying "10-8" to inform your co-workers and dispatch know you are currently "in service." Many Roleplayers know this code so it is safe to use it. I will touch up on codes in the "Radio Communication" section later.


3. Traffic Stops

Traffic stops are not the biggest part of police work, however from a public view, it is definitely one of the biggest. It's also one of the most dangerous things a cop can do. Every time you watch the news and see a cop shot dead on a traffic stop, the reporter says "...shot during a routine traffic stop." I ask you what is so routine about being shot dead and not seeing your family ever again?

With that being said, you should be cautious when performing these. If you are lucky enough to get the car to pull over, park your vehicle so that you have cover when you get out. The figure below identifies how to properly do so.



Notice the dashcam is centered on the left side of this car. The cop parked further into the road than the other car for two primary reasons: Protection from Drunk Drivers, and cover incase you get shot at.



If a drunk driver veers off into the side of the road (All too common on City RP), your cop car will be your first line of protection. It will theoretically absorb most of the impact, instead of you.

If you're getting shot at, you have all the cover you need. This is not the case for the driver.

It's a general rule of thumb to park 1 1/2 car lengths away from any car during a traffic stop. This is to give you enough space to perform Standard Field Sobriety Tests (FSTS) for instance, but it's just for a nice work space to have when you get the driver out of the car if you have to. DO NOT WALK THROUGH THIS AREA DURING ANY POINT WHEN THE DRIVER YOU PULLED OVER HAS THE ENGINE ON. This is absolutely huge and got hammered into me. All the driver has to do is reverse into you and you're done.

You can also perform Felony Stops. I will talk about that later. Skip to the green text down the page if you would like to continue this topic.


4. Opening Fire

This is something that unfortunately has to happen eventually. Every cop does not want this day to come, because it ends in somebody potentially dying. The motto cops use now a days is "Shoot to eliminate the threat." This means you shoot until the threat is neutralized. This is not shoot to kill. If you shoot a man once, and he complies with you, or he falls over, don't keep opening fire, unless you are in complete fear of your life. After you open fire, be sure to find some place to duck and get into cover and request backup immediately. "/backup" comes to mind.

Aiming center mass is widely accepted as the best area to shoot at on the body. This is because many organs are settled there, yes, however it is also the largest part, meaning it's the hardest to miss.

Should a subject not go down during center mass, it is acceptable to perform a Mozambique, or a failure drill. This simply means to transition to the head. It's common sense, if body shots do not do the work needed, you go between the eyes. This is because many pistol cartridges can bounce off of cheek bones and therein not deliver a lethal shot. It's simple ricochet mechanics, however for the sake of Garry's Mod, go for the head shot if you can. This is last case scenario, in the case of Garry's Mod, body shots are generally the way to go. But there's the Mozambique.

You should always find cover when firing, for extremely obvious reasons. Make sure it is actually cover though, as you can shoot through walls in Garry's Mod. The engine block of a car is a great option, however walls consisting of 2-3 cubes width seems to work great as well. Crouching as well is imperative, because you not only become more accurate, you become harder to hit.

Do not sprint around throwing bullets down range. Rather, a slow methodical movement speed is enough to keep yourself a moving target yet remaining accurate. Simply walking should be enough, however in dire situations, alt-jogging is a viable alternative. Sprint only when fleeing in order to get the hell out of there.


5. Radio Communication

This is Garry's Mod, and not the real world. The real world has no standardized code system besides a few widely recognizable ones, such as 10-8, 10-7, 10-4, and a few general codes such as Codes 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Besides those codes, you should not be saying anything else. It is literally gibberish, and it is sometimes gibberish to somebody like myself as well. We don't understand you, so stop it please.

Here's those codes I listed above. These are about the only ones that should be used at all.

10-4 - Acknowledged. (This does not mean "yes". It means, "understood.")
10-7 - Out of Service (Off of work/unable to take a call.)
10-8 - In Service (On duty, able to take a call.)
10-20 - Location?
Code 1 - At your convenience (No lights, no sirens, no hauling ass to get to where you're going.)
Code 2 - Urgent (No lights, No sirens, but haul ass safely. Drive with purpose.)
Code 3 - Emergency (Lights, Sirens, haul ass, you know the drill.)
Code 4 - No further assistance needed (This one is sorta common, but it's vital. It means what it means.)


6. Pursuit

This is always a fun topic to be involved in. Legally flying through town with sirens going off brings such a thrill to yourself. Yet, you should have your thrill in a safe manor, especially when dealing with a driver you are pursuing. You should follow the vehicle in a straight line when on city road ways and high ways. This is considered the safer way of pursuing a suspect. Make sure you have space in between squad cars when pursuing, as the last thing you really need is to have a collision with another cop car, or a car in general.

When you finally get the vehicle to pull over, be it a PIT maneuver or simple patience, line the cop cars up in a way to where you can have cover. Due to the gamemode limitation, I recommend parking your car at an angle, and the other car doing the same.

2-3 cars should be up front at maximum, with following cars parking behind.



You should never do these by yourself. Generally in a pursuit, you'll have backup, however these do happen during traffic stops. If you see a car with a stolen icon in the vehicle details (when you look at it), that's a time that you do a felony stop.




S.W.A.T.

Special Weapons and Tactics are deployed when beat cops can't handle a high stress situation with their current loadout. S.W.A.T. members are actually regular beat cops who respond around the clock to calls. These beat cops attended "SWAT School."

There's nothing much to say about how to perform. You're there to do some shooting most likely, and there's no denying it. Nobody hopes for a shooting, but if the cops could handle it on their own, they probably would not call you. Having the mentality of there being a shooting is recommended because it will keep you on your toes. Be ready for anything.

I will add tactics later.


Scenarios

1. You are by yourself driving through an area that has several retail stores. You witness a man grab a woman's purse. The two of them are struggling for control of the purse. The man starts to strike the woman with his hands. What would you do?

2. You and several other officers are attempting to arrest a subject at his residence. As you are walking up to the house the front door opens and the subject appears. He steps out of the doorway and onto the front porch. He has a gun in his hand and he begins shooting at you. What would you do?

3.    You and your partner get a call of a loud party in your jurisdiction and take it. Upon arriving to the residence, you inform that you are on scene. You knock and get an answer, a teen who seems sober. You ask if you can come insides and the teen says no. What would you do?

9. Final Thoughts

I plan to edit this guide as time progresses. I am very busy so I did not have all of the time in the world, but I wanted to get something basic out. I plan to go in depth with this.

Thanks for reading.

Very detailed guide! Lots of facts to take in.

Great guide!

Great job, very good guide.

A great guild that should appear first

Nice one!

An addition to your traffic stop part: Always park your wheels to the side of the other lane: This is called fend-off

Why? When a car hits yours from behind, it will be pushed sideways instead of a straight line into you and your person who you stopped.


So for example: I pull someone over at the right side of the road, I'll set my vehicle still and turn the wheels fully to the right. In that case the car shoots to an empty side.

We use this also on highways/incidents on the motorway: Always park your vehicle a little bit sidewards with the wheels in fend off! It will save your ass ( Believe me, been in the position to see that)

Very nice job mate! I really love this guide