ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will explore the consensual encounter and how to use it for our benefit in initiating and conducting investigations lawfully and safely. Officer safety should never take a back seat in police work, especially in a consensual encounter type setting, and it must always be at the forefront of any encounter we initiate. In this type of setting, we are always approaching the unknown. There will never be a dope load, money load, or bad guy worth getting ourselves, our partners, innocent citizens, or even the offender hurt. Conducting a consensual encounter should always be based on a person’s conduct and behavior and never on his race, age, gender, or national origin. What does a courier or a person involved in criminal activity look like? There are no boundaries; we have encountered every imaginable type of person, with no limits on age, race, or gender. The youngest person in our combined experience has been 13 years old and the oldest 78 years old. There have been entire families, mother
-
daughter teams, husband
-
wife teams, brother
-
sister teams, and so on. There was the 17-year-old Canadian girl traveling by herself across the country from Los Angeles to Toronto, Canada with 3 kg of cocaine. Each kilogram of cocaine was concealed inside a separate box of laundry detergent in her suitcase. There was the 70-yearold couple traveling from Los Angeles to New York with 1.8 million dollars of U.S. currency in six suitcases. They had picked up the money from one son in Los Angeles and were taking it to their other son in New York. What was consistent about these two separate cases was the conduct and behavior displayed by the people involved.
