Do NOT start reaching for stuff as the cop walks up to the car.
Put both hands on top of the steering wheel where he can see them from a distance. This will keep every ones blood pressure down.
when he is walking up is too late agreed. You need to do it quick before he even gets out of his car.
They often take a few minutes to get out of their car, that is usually when I get everything ready.
“Do NOT start reaching for stuff as the cop walks up to the car.”
I was driving with my wife one night and was pulled over for speeding. The cop walks to the window and asks me for my lic and registration. I look over and my wife already has her arms elbow deep in the glove box rapidly shuffling papers. I thought one or both of us were going to be shot. I got off with a warning and had to explain to my wife that her eagerness to be helpful might have gotten us killed. Luckily we both white (and older).
I hate that keep your hands where the cop can see them stuff. It presumes a subservience owed by the citizen to the public servant. Now they have started shining blinding flood lights into your car whether you have the dome on or not.
I’m a middle aged white woman so I have white privilege. No cop assumes I am a threat. Yet.