When Sara Knox was pulled over on East Brainerd Road for speeding and running a red light at 3 a.m., the 30-year-old Chattanooga woman said the police officer who approached her vehicle did so slowly and made light of the situation.

“He was in a marked car,” she said. “He didn’t lean into the car or anything like that, and it was very reassuring that he kind of made a joke to start with. That made me at ease.”

Cases nationwide of people impersonating police officers and assaulting or robbing others have led to discussions about how to make traffic stops safer. A few cities are considering special lighted lots for drivers to pull into should they be stopped by police officers at night, according to a recent Newsweek magazine article.

Had the officer who pulled over Ms. Knox been in an unmarked patrol car, she may have felt apprehensive, she said.

“I can see where some of that fear comes from,” she said. “It’s just not knowing.”

The Chattanooga Police Department encourages all motorists, especially women, to pull into a place with people where they feel comfortable, said Assistant Chief Mike Williams, who oversees the department’s patrol division.

“We’ve just always encouraged them to find a well-lit place that they can pull into where there are people, such as a convenience store or (police) precinct,” he said.

If motorists wish to drive to a safer place, they either can turn on their hazard lights and drive slowly or call 911 and inform the dispatcher of their intent so it can be relayed to the officer in the pursuing car, Chief Williams said.

He said Chattanooga has not had any problems with police impersonators, but he said drivers have called dispatchers with concerns about officers initiating traffic stops.

Making stops in populated areas also helps officers, said Sgt. Al Tallant, with the Chattanooga Police Department bomb squad/traffic division.

In April, a woman in North Georgia alleged that two men in a vehicle with flashing blue lights pulled her over for a traffic stop on Nickajack Road and one raped her, according to the Walker County Sheriff’s Department. It eventually was determined she had fabricated the story, authorities said.

In such a case, witnesses and surveillance cameras can capture the traffic stop and subsequent actions of drivers and officers, Sgt. Tallant said.

“If we attempt to pull somebody over and they go to a convenience store, someplace that has people in it, and then they accuse officers of something, then you have potential witnesses,” he said.

Officers are trained on how to properly conduct stops so as not to make drivers uneasy, including approaching slowly and identifying themselves, he said.

Deputies with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department tend to conduct stops in rural areas with less light and fewer people around, spokesman Dusty Stokes said. While deputies may call for backup if a motorist doesn’t stop driving after a traffic stop is initiated, they also try to be more understanding as to the time of day and location of the stop, he said.

“If it’s an unmarked car that pulls somebody over, obviously we’re going to be more sensitive to not having a lit area, letting them know who we are, identifying ourselves,” he said.

But most deputies are in marked cars, he said.

The Tennessee Department of Safety outlines procedures for traffic stops in its general orders. Those procedures include activating emergency lights and/or sirens as soon as practical and to consider the age, sex and condition of the driver, weather conditions, traffic density and safety aspects of stopping the violator, according to the document.

An officer also should park his or her vehicle to the rear of the violator’s vehicle whenever possible, the document states.

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