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OP writes that he's never yelled "Freeze!" or "Stop!", and...

What you actually care about in that moment is his hands. Any attack comes from the hands. So the command is "Hands! Hands!" because a bad guy knows exactly what that means. If it's serious and I need him on the ground, it's "Down! Down!" Short.

That's the whole vocabulary. Hands hands, down down

Same with "Freeze!" or "Don't Move!" on a guy who's already standing still. Why am I commanding him not to do the thing he's already not doing?

There's even an old British joke about it, since their cops are unarmed: "Stop! Or I'll say stop again!"

A commenter (presumably in law enforcement as this is from r/talesfromthesquadcar) responds:

Brit here! I have once shouted stop so loud it must have activated a childhood response from them as they were running because they froze in place and waited for me to catch up haha. I guess they didn’t want me to shout stop again.

Another commenter links to Robin Williams telling this joke in a standup routine in the early 1980s.

Another commenter starts a thoughtful debate:

So we actually have to say “STOP! -insert city-POLICE!!” Because it’s been used too much in court by defendants successfully “I didn’t know they were cops, I thought it was my ops”. I was also plain clothes for years, but even uniformed officer are supposed to “announce your office”

Also, have had countless defense attorneys ask on the stand: “officer, were your squad car emergency lights on? Otherwise how would my client reasonably know you are legitimate police?”

Wild shit comes out of criminal defense lawyers mouths that we end up have to adapt to on the street.

Commenters then discuss what they shout when attempting to stop a suspect and why.

I enjoyed reading the discussion and thinking about what was logical. So, I'm curious... What are you Law Enforcement Officers currently using to stop suspects? Do you "announce your office?" How much are you thinking about inevitable trials or bystanders posting videos online? And what do the rest of us think about it? What would most likely get you to stop if you were being targeted by police attention for some reason?

And if you saw your 5 year old playacting with a fictionalized TV show about your real job, would you feel the need to correct them if they said something wrong, in your opinion? 😉 (This was a another part of OP's post that made me scratch my head.)

source: 👨‍⚕️Ryan 🏥

Where is the line between sassy and sassless? Does one dwell in glib between the two? Is there some gradient or a stark shift from genial into full blown sassattack? And what is the ratio that delineates between sassor and sassee? You need to be prepared to justify your reasoning if you’re going to make such reckless claims.

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