Originally Posted by
Mas
Rex, back in the 1970s Lt. Frank McGee, then head of the NYPD Firearms and Tactics Unit, told me their department had gone with the command "Police! Don't move!" The rationale was that "Freeze" was a mushy-sounding word, but the explosive consonants "P" in "Police!" and "D" in "Don't move!" were more clearly audible and distinguishable. It's been over 40 years, but if I remember correctly linguistics expertise and street cop experience were all involved in the study that led to the adoption of that specific command. I suspect John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which was tight with NYPD, was also involved to some degree.
It made sense to me, and I've always taught "Police! Don't move!" for LE, and simply "Don't move!" for armed citizens. P-F members with NYPD experience may have more details to share on that.