Gas Station Protocol

[Plan2Live]

I was reading an article about a Texas deputy who was ambushed and killed while fueling his patrol car at a public gas station. http://news.yahoo.com/sheriffs-deputy-fatally-shot-houston-while-pumping-gas-043751950.html

I thought I would ask THR what their preferred protocol is while refueling their vehicles. I'll describe mine.

The gas station I normally go to is the most convenient location for me and the lowest price for quite some distance. However, they have this annoying video screen playing commercials at every pump. While I can ignore the distraction I can't turn down the sound. I drive a pickup, the gas cap is on the driver's side. I leave my driver's door open in an attempt to limit approach angles. This boxes me in between the truck, the pump, the driver's door and the gas nozzle/gas hose. While I recognize this boxes me in, limiting my ability to flee, I also feel like it limits direct access to me. I can see clearly over the open truck bed. I keep my head on a swivel and even turn my body in about a 270 degree arc as I scan the area.

What do you do differently?

My condolences to the officer's family.

 

[Old Shooter]

I always use the outside row of pumps at the six row station I gas up at. This way I have busy streets on two sides of me and I am facing the rest of the pumps and the cashiers office as I gas up. I do look around me while I am at the pump, just in case. No problems so far.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

I always get gas as my local Costco, and always in the afternoon. I use the outside pump where no one can approach me unseen, and of course I'm armed. There's always an attendant there as well. Obviously if I happen to be traveling (not a common occurrence for me) then I'll have to modify it a bit.

 

[Lord Teapot]

i use large well lit stations with cameras, usually a local radiant with like 12 pump stations. too many dindunuffins about.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I just get my gas and pay attention to those around me like I do anywhere else.

 

[lemaymiami]

As a full time fishing guide down here in south Florida I'm towing a small skiff daily at one bad place or other (and have been since I retired from police work nearly 20 years ago now...). That means I'm available to whatever low life or other interesting characters are around during daylight or really late at night (or very early depending on your point of view...). I have to fuel up both boat and truck every day (or night) that I work.... My tow log shows me on the road 20,000 per year, every year.

Situational awareness is everything in my world as well as a pretty good knowledge of street life and how to deal with whatever comes my way.... I've had folks wanting to sell obviously stolen goods (everything from offers to "use my credit card" for half price... to offers of fishing gear "new in the box" obviously just stolen from some shop). Along with that comes the usual panhandlers, drunks, and other assorted interesting characters. I treat everyone as a potential opponent, make full eye contact, move so that my strong side (where you'd carry a firearm) is away from whoever I'm dealing with and won't allow anyone to approach closely under any circumstances. I never raise my voice or say anything bad to any of them -but make it clear from my body language that I'm ready for whatever comes my way (even though I'm in geezer territory and not physically much to look at -I'm a long way from when I was young and almost 5'9"...). I'd say that most of those that I deal with get the idea pretty quickly that I'm not "easy" in any way.... so far that's all I've ever needed (even on two occasions where my opponent did have a knife in hand...). Most on the street aren't looking to get hurt and are like that dog that will only bite when you're not looking..

Not bad for a fellow that hasn't carried a sidearm since he left police work in 1995. I do have one nearby but decided long ago not to carry if at all possible. I'll be the first to know if that was a bad decision.

 

[Kleanbore]

• Don't let the tank get low
• Daytime only
• Drive around once
• Avoid stations near rough areas or accessible to high crime neighborhoods
• Card in hand when exiting car
• Be ready to depart quickly and go elsewhere
• No pphone, no earbuds, no texting, no chcking maps
• Except whan traveling, avoid stations accessible to major highways
• Head on a swivel

 

[WestKentucky]

I try to fuel up when it's not really busy, but when there are a few others around. Ever since a weedeater got liberated from the truck bed while I was paying I pay at the pump with s card, even on the rare occasion I have cash. I do move around a bit and keep a good level of situational awareness. If nothing else the situational awareness and my size make me a bad target for robbery. If they are going to shoot me for my truck then they can do so from a distance, otherwise they have a well armed, well aware, 275 pound pile of pissed off redneck looking for an excuse to vent some rage. The time I was strong armed by 6 "they" figured that out when I broke ones nose and knocked another one out with 2 punches. "They" figured that out again when a kid and 50 or 60 of his buddies surrounded my truck one night and demanded a rematch. Like Ron white said, I didn't know how many it would take but I knew how many were going to be used. I snatched a chain loose from a post and started swinging it and laughing and asked which one wanted it first and worst. "They" called the cops for their own protection. I put the chain back on with a cold shut the next day.

 

[TomJ]

What Kleanbore recommended plus going to gas stations where others are filling up as well. Having a number of other patrons there reduces the odds that they'll try something, as they don't want witnesses or other people there that may intervene.

 

[Kleanbore]

Tom, I should have mentioned that, too.

 

[Kleanbore]

One Other Thing...

Five years ago, I signed up for a course with Massad Ayoob some 300 miles away.

I had not been to that city for a while, but I really had never liked refueling there. So I asked a friend who made the trip on business regularly.

He told me where he refueled--quite a bit sooner than one would generally choose to do so, all other things being equal.

I did so. From the looks of things farther on, it appears that the advice was prudent.

If you can ask someone or otherwise learn the lay of the land beforehand, do so and plan ahead.

If you cannot, I would plan on refueling before getting really close to the urban hotbeds--Baltimore, Trenton, East St. Louis, South Chicago, sSouth Philadelphia--one could go on.

 

[Deaf Smith]

I'm a very polite fellow so I just follow Gen. James Mattis's guidelines at the gas pumps.

Deaf

 

[jeepnik]

Sadly, the one I used most often, for convenience sake, is populated by several panhandlers. Emails and calls to the manager and owner have done nothing. The cops sometimes make a sweep, but it doesn't last long.

So, tactics. Head up on swivel. Lock doors upon exiting. If approached, look hard straight at them, they've always headed the other direction quickly (hey, they are predators, if only minor ones, and they will not mess with an apex predator). No words, do not engage or respond to their pleas.

There is no need or desire to make the fact I'm armed obvious. That's my secret right up to the time I have to use it. Attitude and confidence make all the difference. Projecting the same, though it might be harder, if unarmed would likely have the same effect.

 

[joem1945]

I keep aware of the people around me while I'm out of the truck and my right hand in my pocket (which has my pistol in it), just in case of a problem.

 

[Kleanbore]

....I just follow Gen. James Mattis's guidelines at the gas pumps.

Looks like it is again time to caution people about posting on public sites.

The existence of a training course document containing one of Mattis' quotes was used by the prosecution with devastating effect in a trial involving a defendant in Arizona.

If there is ever any question about whether the evidence supports a basis for a reasonable belief that deadly force had been immediately necessary, evidence that could be used to establish state of mind--indication of a predisposition to use force-- could be the clincher.

 

[lemaymiami]

I'll add to that last post..... whatever your security precautions (or intentions) are -keep them to yourself. It can be troublesome to have made public statements (everything we post on-line included here...) then end up having to use deadly force, or hurt someone badly without a weapon. Guarantee if an incident comes into a courtroom someone will be trying to use any prior statements against you (understatement).

When you're sitting in a courtroom (inquest only thank heavens) listening to witnesses state that you previously threatened someone you ended up shooting (line of duty - many years ago, the only shot I ever fired as a cop in 22 years...) it's not much fun at all....

 

[MedWheeler]

I do not like being boxed in. Something I learned in law enforcement, and not necessarily to allow for a chance to flee, but to actually engage.

Otherwise, pretty much as Kleanbore posted. Active station (other customers), daylight or brightly-lit, appropriately-selected location. No distracting multi-tasking, including interacting with any passengers still in the vehicle (they have to get out also if they want to talk.)

If I'm going inside the store, I do it afterward, and the vehicle either gets left and locked, or pulled up and locked (depending on distance.) Any passengers not coming in with me remain inside the vehicle with all doors locked (I open mine with a second key when I return if the engine is still running.)

 

[Ironicaintit]

Usually when I fuel up, im in grungy work clothes, and most of my cars are old, with dents, some rust, and dirty. (Im a rat rod kind of fellow who lives on a dirt road) so, I dont look like an appealing target!
At any rate, I always park at a pump that leaves me an exit. I dont park super close to the pumps to allow me some meaneuverability. And just out of habit, I keep alert of people in my vicinity

 

[Sheepdog1968]

• Don't let the tank get low
• Daytime only
• Drive around once
• Avoid stations near rough areas or accessible to high crime neighborhoods
• Card in hand when exiting car
• Be ready to depart quickly and go elsewhere
• No phone, no earbuds, no texting, no chcking maps
• Except whan traveling, avoid stations accessible to major highways
• Head on a swivel

Kleanbores list is pretty good. I will relate a story. In the early 2000s I had a job that required frequent travel. I made about a dozen trips to a company that required me to fly in and out of Midway as they were located outside of Chicago. It was cheaper to fly through this airport than the other Chicago one. Midway is in a very bad part of town. When returning the rental car, there was absolutely no way I was going to fill up near midway. I would fill up at a gas station about 20 miles away. I didn't care if I got charged because the full gauge wasn't pegged full and my company would yell at me. It was too dangerous to fill up there.

 

[Praxidike]

I don't live my life like I'm living in a warzone thus I need to surgically plan my every move as if Im going to be attacked at any second. I go to what ever pump is open or closest to me, get my gas, and go on with my day.

 

[Kleanbore]

I don't live my life like I'm living in a warzone thus I need to surgically plan my every move as if Im going to be attacked at any second.

Nor does anyone whom I know.

I go to What evey pump is open or closest to me, get my gas, and go on with my day.

There are stations that I avoid.

When one sees gangs of ne'er-do-wells having out at a station, that's a pretty good indication that another station might be a better choice.

When a station is in a neighborhood that is in the news a couple of times a month due to crimes of violence, that, too, is an indication.

If that station has been the site of shootings, muggings, and carjackings, it would seem rather foolish to patronize it, given a choice.

The service station, the convenience store, and the ATM are among several kinds of places that provide violent criminal actors with excellent access to victims, and depending upon the location, with ready escape routes.

Prudent risk management starts with the identification and analysis of risks. When it comes to patronizing service stations, that is an easy task.

Whether one chooses to mitigate those risks is a personal decision.

 

[MedWheeler]

On a related not to Ironicaintit's

Usually when I fuel up, im in grungy work clothes, and most of my cars are old, with dents, some rust, and dirty. (Im a rat rod kind of fellow who lives on a dirt road) so, I don't look like an appealing target!

, I also likely won't get taken by many as an appealing target. Though my clothes aren't "grungy work" ones, I do dress in jeans and "country" attire, such as boots, cowboy hat, and button-front shirts (that cover my sidearm.) My trucks are all older, and two of them are 4x4s. I'm otherwise cleaner-cut, and frequently get taken for a cop as well..

 

[aarondhgraham]

I really have only one protocol,,,

I really have only one protocol,,,
I always fill my gas tank in daylight hours,,,
I never allow my car to go lower than a half tank.

Okay, maybe that's two protocols.

It's not a difficult thing to do,,,
I'll be it's been 10 tears since I filled up in the dark.

Aarond

.

 

[Malamute]

Originally Posted by Kleanbore View Post
Don't let the tank get low
Daytime only
Drive around once
Avoid stations near rough areas or accessible to high crime neighborhoods
Card in hand when exiting car
Be ready to depart quickly and go elsewhere
No phone, no earbuds, no texting, no chcking maps
Except whan traveling, avoid stations accessible to major highways
Head on a swivel

Good stuff. The drive around is good, most never think of it. Southnarc mentioned always parking at the pumps, even when he didnt need fuel, as it gave him distance and time before going inside in case anything hinky was going on inside.

I'd add, never ever leave the keys in the ignition. Never. Carjackers can get in your car in about 2 seconds when you turn your back. If the keys are in it, you just gave them your car. If you keep more than just the car key in the ignition, you may have also given them your house key and more. If you leave the insurance and registration papers in the vehicle, you also just gave them your address, and helped them if they were stopped in your vehicle. I dont even keep the gas key with the ignition key. Just me.

Having said all that, I dont live in a part of the country that hearing of cars being jacked or other person to person crime happens at random, night time isnt a problem, nor several of the other things that are good ideas in more populated places. I still pay attention and dont do things that would make it easy for anyone to take advantage.

Keep a spare key on you at all times. A lockout is a nuisance and can be a real problem thats completely avoidable, and only costs a couple bucks for a copy (or two or three) that can always be in your pocket for unexpected moments. My first stop when I get any new vehicle is getting several spare keys made. I cant think of any good reason not to have a spare (at least door key) on you all the time.

 

[bikerdoc]

The only thing I would add to Kleanbores routine is to go early in the Am( Im out every day at 8 :30 or earlier )and do a observation recon loop first.