Steve Harvey

Steve Harvey Details His Talk With Sons About Police Encounters

Harvey said he's told his own three sons the rules to dealing with the police during traffic stops: 'Submit to every single thing he tells you'

In wake of the recent shootings of black men by police officers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Charlotte, North Carolina, Steve Harvey hosted an hour-long show dedicated to improving race relations.

Harvey assembled a diverse audience Thursday that included both police officers and people who say they live in fear of police. During the episode, Harvey spoke about raising his own three sons and how told them how to respond if they're ever stopped by police.

"It has been ingrained in us from the time I was taught how to drive, I was taught how to behave when I'm stopped," he said. 

Harvey went into detail about the procedure he tells his sons to follow, everything from hand placement on the wheel to the vocal volume they should use with officers. As the officer approaches the car, he said wrists should be displayed on top of the steering wheel and should only be moved when his sons are told to do so by the officer. Every single move the driver makes in the car should be narrated, Harvey said, and not without calling an officer "sir" or "ma'am."

"Submit to every single thing he tells you, and try to get back to the house," Harvey said. 

Harvey tweeted that the procedure doesn't always work, "but in that moment, the only goal is to try to #gethomesafe."

After the segment aired, Harvey received both praise from viewers on social media about his advice and criticism from those who both defended the police and those who condemned the recent shootings across the country. 

Emory Law professor Dorothy A. Brown wrote on Twitter in response to the tips that "as we know that doesn't always work." 

"That is so terrifying," she wrote. "We can't do anything to guarantee our safety."

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