LE Training for Plain Clothes

[the judge]

Our agency is looking at delivering training in plain clothes operations to all of our officers. By plain clothes I am referring to patrol guys that are switching from uniform to plain clothes (street clothes). So I'm not referring to plain clothes off duty carry, UC operations or detectives. As required, our guys can go from uniformed patrol to plain clothes in the same shift. More often than not they are planned events for short periods of time to conduct surveillance or support an investigative or enforcement function.

I've been around long enough and have been trainer long enough to know that there are some distinct challenges posed by working the job out of uniform in street clothes, especially for those with no experience doing it.

If anyone has any experience with this as a trainer or otherwise that could share what their agency offers in the way of training/tactics specific to these type of operations, it would be much appreciated.

If you want to keep the training/tactics side of things confidential I can forward my agency email, just hit me up with a message.

(I apologize if this is posted half a dozen times...work filters keep blocking me!)

[Gadfly]

Being a FED, we are plain clothed all the time. When we do a pre planed enforcement operation (warrant or such), everyone puts on their ninja shit to look cool. But 98% of our time is jeans and pull over polo shirts.

When we qual, everyone wants to wear drop leg holsters and cool guy gear. But that is not the reality of what they wear every day. We have recently taken to having our agents come up to the qual line as they got out of the car. Some complained that they needed time to put on the battle belt. Nope. If your gun is on your ankle, hip, purse, pocket, walk up to the line and we go as is for the qual course. Some complained that they "left their magazines in the car"... it was pathetic.

We just wanted to show them that what you have on you is typically all you get for the duration of a fight, and if you don't carry it on your body all the time, you probably wont have it when you need it.

My point (that it took so long to get to) was, make your guys shoot your course a few times with their plain clothed gear, from concealment. It is the best you can do. If you see them come to the range with a nice belt mount ALS, but you know they carry appendix in the field, make the qual how they carry...

It is also important for them to remember that not everyone knows everyone else in policing. It there is a shooting, and they are in plain clothes make sure they get that gun out of their hands when patrol arrives. Someone who has been in uniform for years my have a hard time shifting gears and thinking "plain clothed" mentality if you don't emphasize it in training.

Pretty generic advise, but hopefully its a starting point.

[voodoo_man]

As you may or may not know I worked what is either considered plainclothes or UC for several years.

I will first start out saying that the really meaty stuff is OPSEC and no one should post it. You are in Canada so there are all sorts of legal issues with giving information in a training format to a non-US citizen.

The easiest way to explain how to go from uniform to non-uniform duty is to stop being a police officer. Stop dressing like one, stop having the facial expressions like one, stop using command presence, stop carrying OWB, start carrying IWB (and very discreetly), start thinking like a criminal, dressing like the people you are targeting (think about this specifically to implement it). Grow your hair out, mustaches are good, beards (unkept) are better, grow your hair out, non-standard hair styles are good as well.

There is a lot more, a lot, more that I cannot put out in public, hell I could probably teach a two week course about it.

[Coyotesfan97]

Don't grow a goatee, don't wear cargo shorts, and don't all wear the same style of shoes

[the judge]

Being a FED, we are plain clothed all the time. When we do a pre planed enforcement operation (warrant or such), everyone puts on their ninja shit to look cool. But 98% of our time is jeans and pull over polo shirts.

When we qual, everyone wants to wear drop leg holsters and cool guy gear. But that is not the reality of what they wear every day. We have recently taken to having our agents come up to the qual line as they got out of the car. Some complained that they needed time to put on the battle belt. Nope. If your gun is on your ankle, hip, purse, pocket, walk up to the line and we go as is for the qual course. Some complained that they "left their magazines in the car"... it was pathetic.

We just wanted to show them that what you have on you is typically all you get for the duration of a fight, and if you don't carry it on your body all the time, you probably wont have it when you need it.

My point (that it took so long to get to) was, make your guys shoot your course a few times with their plain clothed gear, from concealment. It is the best you can do. If you see them come to the range with a nice belt mount ALS, but you know they carry appendix in the field, make the qual how they carry...

It is also important for them to remember that not everyone knows everyone else in policing. It there is a shooting, and they are in plain clothes make sure they get that gun out of their hands when patrol arrives. Someone who has been in uniform for years my have a hard time shifting gears and thinking "plain clothed" mentality if you don't emphasize it in training.

Pretty generic advise, but hopefully its a starting point.

Generic is good. I am all for getting our people to train with what they carry and how they would normally carry it everyday and not do the "range" ensemble thing. I'm tracking with you on the mentality shift, that is one of the things I intend to focus on which goes hand on hand with things you need to do or not do to keep you from getting shot when the uniforms arrive.

[Gadfly]

I was generically taking guns in my first post, as I thought that was the question.

Adding to Voodoo man:

Don't wear anything 5.11 or Tactical looking.

Don't carry two wallets (one personal, one "cred"). Having two wallets in the back pockets screams cop to turds.

Oakley,'Wiley X and other shooting style sun glasses are also a giveaway.

As voodoo mentioned, how you stand can affect the look. I had a CI (snitch) that often told me I walk like a cop. We covered an under cover meeting for him one time in a bar. Afterward, he told me he spotted my two guys at the bar, and one at a table. We had 6 guys in there. He picked 3 of them out of about 40/50 people in the bar.

Some professional crooks are good at what they do.

[41magfan]

As already noted, the ones that really matter can spot a COP wearing a clown suit at a birthday party. The ones you are actually fooling (or think you're fooling) are simply the criminal derps.

[the judge]

As you may or may not know I worked what is either considered plainclothes or UC for several years.

I will first start out saying that the really meaty stuff is OPSEC and no one should post it. You are in Canada so there are all sorts of legal issues with giving information in a training format to a non-US citizen.

The easiest way to explain how to go from uniform to non-uniform duty is to stop being a police officer. Stop dressing like one, stop having the facial expressions like one, stop using command presence, stop carrying OWB, start carrying IWB (and very discreetly), start thinking like a criminal, dressing like the people you are targeting (think about this specifically to implement it). Grow your hair out, mustaches are good, beards (unkept) are better, grow your hair out, non-standard hair styles are good as well.

There is a lot more, a lot, more that I cannot put out in public, hell I could probably teach a two week course about it.

Hey man, to clarify...NOT looking for the meaty stuff that would violate OPSEC or even anything that would come remotely close to UC work. I offered to provide my agency contact IF anyone wanted to go outside a general public discussion. Not looking to challenge the whole ITAR thing either. I'm familiar with you through your excellent pics and gear reviews but don't know anything about your work on the job.

I will provide a generalization of what our guys might be doing and the training topics I'm looking at covering. If after there is a feeling this shouldn't be discussed any farther and no one wants to comment any farther then I humbly submit to have the thread locked.

So lets say patrol guys are taking reports for B&E and theft in an area that is being hit repeatedly over a short period of time. They are pulled from uniform and put in plain clothes and unmarked squads to do static and mobile patrols of the area. So we are talking basic non-uniform surveillance/interdiction for short intervals with the idea of shutting down the problem as quick as possible. They are wearing everyday street clothes, usually multiple layers of clothing to deal with the elements. The are fully tooled up with duty pistol in a plain clothes holster, spare magazine pouches, OC spray, baton, handcuffs, radio and ear piece, belt and or neck badge, body armor, flashlight, and so on. To the average person, our normally uniformed patrol guy in jeans and a shirt will pass casual scrutiny, for a little while at least. To the trained eye, not more than a second or two.

General training topics I have considered so far:
-policy
-mandatory equipment
-police identification
-communication (internal and external)
-de-confliction (how not to burn someone else's op)
-draws from concealment
-holstering with concealment
-reloads from concealment
-transitions from lethal to less lethal with concealed equipment
-dealing with uniformed response/uniformed challenge

When I decided to post here about this it was with knowledge that while I have done a fair amount of work in plain clothes over the years I don't profess to know everything. I DO know there are guys I could learn from here that have worked entire careers in this arena. Thanks again.

[SLG]

Hey man, to clarify...NOT looking for the meaty stuff that would violate OPSEC or even anything that would come remotely close to UC work. I offered to provide my agency contact IF anyone wanted to go outside a general public discussion. Not looking to challenge the whole ITAR thing either. I'm familiar with you through your excellent pics and gear reviews but don't know anything about your work on the job.

I will provide a generalization of what our guys might be doing and the training topics I'm looking at covering. If after there is a feeling this shouldn't be discussed any farther and no one wants to comment any farther then I humbly submit to have the thread locked.

So lets say patrol guys are taking reports for B&E and theft in an area that is being hit repeatedly over a short period of time. They are pulled from uniform and put in plain clothes and unmarked squads to do static and mobile patrols of the area. So we are talking basic non-uniform surveillance/interdiction for short intervals with the idea of shutting down the problem as quick as possible. They are wearing everyday street clothes, usually multiple layers of clothing to deal with the elements. The are fully tooled up with duty pistol in a plain clothes holster, spare magazine pouches, OC spray, baton, handcuffs, radio and ear piece, belt and or neck badge, body armor, flashlight, and so on. To the average person, our normally uniformed patrol guy in jeans and a shirt will pass casual scrutiny, for a little while at least. To the trained eye, not more than a second or two.

General training topics I have considered so far:
-policy
-mandatory equipment
-police identification
-communication (internal and external)
-de-confliction (how not to burn someone else's op)
-draws from concealment
-holstering with concealment
-reloads from concealment
-transitions from lethal to less lethal with concealed equipment
-dealing with uniformed response/uniformed challenge

When I decided to post here about this it was with knowledge that while I have done a fair amount of work in plain clothes over the years I don't profess to know everything. I DO know there are guys I could learn from here that have worked entire careers in this arena. Thanks again.

I do that kind of work every week. Pm me if you like, but honestly, most of that stuff is either stuff to work out on a range (or dry fire), and the rest is your agency's policy. In the U.S., there is a specific strategic deconfliction procedure that we follow. Don't know how you guys do that North of the border. For tactical deconfliction, surely your agency covers that in the academy? We have not found a reason to deviate from what I consider to be a basic LE practice for as long as I've been alive. I'm sure you guys already know that stuff.

[the judge]

I do that kind of work every week. Pm me if you like, but honestly, most of that stuff is either stuff to work out on a range (or dry fire), and the rest is your agency's policy. In the U.S., there is a specific strategic deconfliction procedure that we follow. Don't know how you guys do that North of the border. For tactical deconfliction, surely your agency covers that in the academy? We have not found a reason to deviate from what I consider to be a basic LE practice for as long as I've been alive. I'm sure you guys already know that stuff.

Agreed this is stuff that will either will be covered by policy or worked out on the range. Just basically looking to see if I've missed anything obvious from the topic list. As to deconfliction...well for some guys it might be a LONG time since they even visited that concept. I just want to cover my bases.