police

How I Almost Got Arrested in Turkey
How I Almost Got Arrested in Turkey 1024 768 Greg Ellifritz

I got back a few days ago from a 10-day trip to Turkey.  I’ll have a full article about my trip posted next week, but until then I need to share some critical information for you shooters who travel by air.

 

On my flight home leaving Turkey, I had to go through Turkey’s dual airport security system.  Since the famous airport bombing and active killer attack in the ticketing area before security, Turkish airports have placed metal detectors and baggage x-ray systems just inside the each airport’s door.  In order to make it to the ticket counter, you must place your bags in an X-ray scanner and walk through a metal detector.

 

After getting your boarding passes and checking your luggage, you must again go through a traditional airport screening system.  On international flights, the Turkish equivalent of the TSA also hand searches each passengers carry-on bags and physically pats each passenger down before they get on the plane.  It’s quite a process.

 

The 2016 Istanbul attackers

 

I fly a lot.  I’ve taken a total of 53 flights already this calendar year.  I also flew two previous domestic flights in Turkey earlier in my trip, so I was familiar with their special  security procedures and had optimized my packing to get through smoothly.

 

I put my carry-on and checked bags on the screening machine’s conveyor belt.  I had no metal on my person, so I walked through the metal detector without an alarm.  I waited on the other side of the detector for my bags to come out the other side of the X-ray machine.  My carry-on came through with no problem, but my checked bag was flagged for extra screening.  Security asked me to open the suitcase.  When I did, the security guard removed my large medical kit and a bag of liquids, separating them from the rest of the suitcase contents.

 

That didn’t seem unusual and I patiently waited when they ran the med kit, the liquids, and the suitcase all through the X-ray machine separately.

 

The screener started yelling in Turkish and suddenly two Turkish National Police officers appeared and greeted me in a friendly manner.

 

The screeners seemed a bit excited but the cops seemed relaxed and were smiling.  The problem was that none of them spoke any English (maybe more accurately described as the problem was that I didn’t speak any Turkish).  They were all repeating a single word when talking to me.  I tried to explain that I didn’t understand what they were saying.

 

One of the cops removed the magazine from his pistol and pointed to a cartridge (Turkish cops carry ball ammo in their guns, by the way) and then pointed to my bag.  The other cop pulled up Google translate on his phone and typed a single word.  It was “bullet.”  Apparently they had seen a bullet in my checked bag on the X-ray image.

 

Shit.  That wasn’t good.

 

What the Turkish cop showed me.  He was pointing to the top round in the magazine and then at my bag.

 

I shook my head “no.”  I was absolutely certain that I didn’t have any ammunition in my bag.

 

As I wrote about in my book, I have a very specific procedure to ensure that I don’t take firearms or ammunition into other countries.  I use a separate set of luggage for traveling in foreign countries.  I NEVER use those bags for traveling domestically or for hauling guns/ammo to the range.  Additionally, before I pack for each trip, I start with completely empty bags so I know nothing could possibly be left over from any previous trips. I had followed my protocol meticulously when packing for this trip.

 

 

Besides, my luggage had already been screened on each of the three separate flights I took earlier in the trip and no one noticed anything alarming.  There was no way I had a bullet in my bag.

 

The screeners and cops ran my bag through the machine several more times.  They tore everything apart and couldn’t find what they were looking for.  The process was taking a long time.  They had been tearing my bag apart for about 15 minutes when the cop with Google translate on his phone started typing.

 

He typed: “Bullets are prohibited.”

 

I replied: “I don’t have any bullets.”

 

Trying to personalize the interaction and ensure that the cop knew he wasn’t dealing with a criminal, I typed: “I am a police officer in the United States.”

 

His reply was: “This isn’t America.  Bullets are prohibited, even for USA police.”

 

Ouch.  This interaction wasn’t going well at all.

 

The screeners continued going through my bags until they found what they were looking for.  In the pocket of a pair of shorts I hadn’t worn on the trip, they found a speed strip loaded with six rounds of .22 magnum ammo.

 

Similar to what I had in the pocket of a pair of shorts

 

A couple weeks previously, I had gone hiking and had carried my Smith and Wesson 351C .22 magnum revolver.  I tossed a speed strip full of extra ammo in my pocket.  I had forgotten to remove the speed strip.  It had been through the washer and dryer.  The ammo was so light that I packed the pair of shorts without noticing that there was a loaded speed strip in the pocket.  I didn’t wear the shorts on my trip and didn’t have a chance to notice the pocket contained ammunition.

 

The cop was looking at the strip and appearing very confused.  He clearly didn’t know what it was.  There probably aren’t many folks carrying spare rounds for a .22 magnum in Turkey.  I quickly started typing on my phone.

 

 

The cop nodded his head, trashed the speed strip and walked away without saying anything more.

 

I have no idea if I had received some international “professional courtesy” or if that was their normal response to idiot Americans who bring ammo into their country.  Either way, I’m grateful the cop chose not to make an arrest for what was clearly a criminal violation in his country.

 

I never thought to check my clothing for contraband before packing for an international trip.  I will be sure to check every piece of clothing I throw in the suitcase before my next vacation.  If you are a shooter who regularly carries spare ammo in clothing pockets, you should too.

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the above links are affiliate links.  If you purchase these items, I get a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. 

 

 

 

Fighting Police Corruption in Mexico
Fighting Police Corruption in Mexico 150 150 Greg Ellifritz

In the short YouTube clip below, you’ll find Paul’s approach to handling traffic stops in Mexico.  Download the document he linked to in his comments.  This might save you some big hassles if you live or drive in Mexico.

Tools to Combat Police Corruption in Mexico

 

 

 

South American Police Guns
South American Police Guns 660 440 Greg Ellifritz

I find it endlessly interesting to see the curious mixture of different guns foreign police departments carry.  I found this two-part series from the Firearms Blog covering the topic.

If you are interested in what the cops in South America carry, check out the articles.

 

Police Guns Of The World: South America – Part 1

 

Police Guns Of The World: South America – Part 2

 

Bribery in Bangladesh
Bribery in Bangladesh 336 68 Greg Ellifritz

An article that explains the basis for some of the third world police corruption that you’ll see if you travel. Americans get all worked up over this, but I suggest you deal with it like the locals. Try to avoid the cops at all costs. If accosted, give a small bribe.

It’s important to know what the local bribery rate is so you don’t get overcharged as a foreigner. I find this information out by asking my first taxi driver. “Are the police corrupt here?” Inevitably, they will answer “yes.” My next question is “How much money do they ask for if you are stopped?” Taxi drivers know the drill and will give you the information you need.

Most of the time it’s easier just to give up the $5-$20 rather than fight or argue with the cop for hours and risk the chance of getting arrested if he plants some drugs in your car or on your person.

 

How The Police Make Money In Bangladesh (And Most Other Countries)

 

 

Watching Cops
Watching Cops 350 285 Greg Ellifritz

I get a lot of questions about how to assess relative safety in a foreign country.  I wrote a significant portion of a chapter in my book discussing the topic.  Here is some more information.

 

James LaFond writes a lot of material from a very unique viewpoint. It’s not stuff that you see every day.  This article is about how to watch police patrol patterns to get a better idea of your neighborhood’s safety.  It is equally as useful here at home as it is in the developing world.

 

Watching Cops: Using Observable Police Activity to Assess the Risk Level of an Urban Locale

 

 

 

 

Some of the above links (from Amazon.com and others) are affiliate links.   As an Amazon associate I earn a small percentage of the sale price from qualifying purchases.

If you would like to further support my work, head over to my Patreon page.

Don’t Depend on the Police to Save You
Don’t Depend on the Police to Save You 634 389 Greg Ellifritz

The police in the developing world may not be as well trained or dedicated to the job as your local cops.

 

Read this article.   In an attack on Tunisian beach resort, the first cop who arrived refused to go after the killer because he (the cop) wasn’t wearing body armor (which likely wouldn’t have stopped an AK round anyway). A man who worked at the hotel beach activities stand took the cop’s gun and went after the killer. Unfortunately, the hotel worker couldn’t use the weapon. He had difficulty with the safety, got one shot off (that missed) and then the gun jammed.

 

We’ve seen the same thing in most of the large active killer incidents outside the USA…cops unwilling or unable to do their jobs. It was a huge problem in the Mumbai attacks and the attack on the mall in Kenya.

 

If you are traveling internationally in third world countries you really shouldn’t expect that the local police are competent. Know how to use any weapon you may encounter. If a tourist or hotel worker could have correctly operated the cop’s gun in the Tunisian event, the killing would have been stopped 20 minutes earlier.

 

A standard pre-travel ritual I engage in is to prepare myself to use any “battlefield pickup” weapons I may be able to acquire overseas in an emergency. I look at the weapons that local cops/soldiers/security guards carry and make sure I can use those particular guns proficiently. The chance of me needing some local cop’s gun is extremely low, but so is being caught in a hurricane or trapped in a volcanic eruption. I’ve experienced both of those disasters while traveling and want to be prepared on weapons side of things as well.

 

All across the world, the most common gun that you will see in public is a double action .38 special revolver. Armed security guards are more prevalent than the police and military in many developing countries. All those guards carry a .38 wheel gun in some kind of cheap nylon holster. In a crisis, if I had to arm myself, I would either offer to buy one of those guns for an exorbitant sum of money or I’d choke out an unsuspecting security guard (sorry dude) and “acquire” his weapon.

 

The problem doesn’t end with the mere acquisition of a revolver. Some other limiting factors necessitate that you not only have the gun in your possession, but you be exceptionally skilled in its use. Because the security guards who carry these revolvers rarely carry spare ammunition, and the ammunition they do carry tends to lack stopping power, you must focus on extreme accuracy and making fast head shots. One round of round nose .38 to the chest isn’t a fast fight stopper and you won’t have extra bullets to spare. Plan on using more head shots than you might normally consider. The combination of faster stops and fewer cartridges used is exactly the solution you will need.

 

You will find a variety of weapons carried throughout different countries. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the .38 revolver that I described above is exceedingly popular. You will also see a lot of pump action shotguns, many of which will be equipped with pistol grips. The ubiquitous nature of those two types of weapons dictates that the knowledge of their use is critical before traveling. In all my other travels in third world countries, I see the following other guns most commonly carried on a regular basis by the local cops/soldiers/security guards:

– Glock Pistol

– Beretta 92 (or Taurus Copy) 9mm Pistol

– M-16/AR-15 semi-automatic or automatic rifle variant

– Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle

– FN/FAL Battle Rifle

– AK-47 and AK-74 fully automatic rifle. (As a pro-tip for you American gun owners, recognize that the manual safety positions on a fully automatic AK rifle are different from the semi-automatic AK rifles you see in the USA.)

 

To be a well-rounded and better prepared traveler, you should understand basic operating functions of all of those weapons. They are the ones you will most likely see. If the topic interests you, talk to your gun owning friends and ask them to take you to a shooting range and show you how guns like these work. You may also be able to talk a friendly gun store clerk into giving you an impromptu lesson. If you have time, use Google Images and search “xxxx country police weapons.” Look at the guns you see the cops carrying and make sure you are at least proficient on those weapon systems.

 

Knowing what types of guns the police and military carry in your destination country may have additional benefits as well. If you are stopped by a group of criminals posing as police officers or soldiers, you may be able to recognize that their lack of authority when they aren’t carrying the kind of guns cops/soldiers carry in that area.

 

That bit of knowledge saved the life of a friend of mine when he was stopped at a roadblock by a gang of criminals posing as soldiers on the border of Guatemala. As he was driving up to the roadblock, he recognized that the weapons and uniforms the “soldiers” were using didn’t fit those carried by the other soldiers he had already seen in the country. He sped through the roadblock and escaped. When he reported the incident at a military base down the road, the real soldiers returned to the area of the roadblock and found six people stripped naked and bound in the jungle. The thieves had tied them up and were planning on executing all of them at the end of the day after victimizing as many travelers as they could. It pays to know your local weapons.