Description
What’s New in This Edition
This is the 4th edition, fully revised and updated for 2026. Key changes since the previous edition:
NEW SECTION: PROACTIVE POLICING
A dedicated section on proactive, self-initiated enforcement, covering proactive traffic stops, surround-and-call-out tactics, and K9 sniffs, with the specific articulation each one requires.
NEW: DRONES AND EMERGENCY LOCATION PINGS
New guidance under Exigent Circumstances on deploying a drone and requesting an emergency ping for a subject’s location.
EXPANDED CORE TOPICS
Deeper coverage of high-use topics, including plain feel, willful blindness, concealed compartments, and reckless driving.
STREAMLINED AND SHARPENED
Redundant material consolidated and sections reorganized, so the guide covers more while staying true pocket size.
You had the probable cause. Did your report prove it?
Most officers don’t lose cases for lack of reasonable suspicion or probable cause. They lose because they couldn’t put it into words. The facts were there on the street. The report just didn’t show them, and the suppression hearing is where solid arrests quietly fall apart.
The RS & PC Pocket Guide fixes that. Written by attorney and senior legal instructor Anthony Bandiero, it hands you ready-to-adapt, first-person articulation for situation after situation, each one grounded in the controlling case law. Stop staring at a blank report. Start writing like the prosecutor is already reading over your shoulder.
Inside, you’ll find:
• Articulation factors for the calls you run most: nervousness, furtive movements, high-crime areas, constructive possession, and more
• Offense-by-offense guidance, from narcotics and DUI to firearms, property crimes, and violent crime
• Officer-safety and exigency topics: patdowns, plain feel, protective sweeps, and warrantless entry
• Miranda, use of force, and courtroom testimony
• First-person sentences you can adapt on the spot
New in the fully revised 4th edition: an all-new Proactive Policing section covering proactive traffic stops, surround-and-call-out, and K9 sniffs, plus modern-technology guidance on drone deployment and emergency location pings under exigent circumstances. Core topics like plain feel and concealed compartments have been expanded, and the whole guide has been streamlined so it still fits in your pocket.
Whether you’re a patrol officer, detective, FTO, or academy recruit, if you make stops, write reports, and testify, this belongs in your vest or your glovebox.
