This is a curious discussion and lacking more insights from actual LEO's.
I assume everyone I deal with is lying to me. This is practically always true. From the "I stopped at the stop sign" to "just two beers" to "I didn't hit her" to "That's not mine" just about everyone I deal with lies. I celebrate when someone tells me the truth.
I assume everyone I deal with is armed. In our rural county this is a pretty valid assumption. Some people tell me they are armed. I tell them don't reach for it. A lot of people keep their CCL next to their DL so I see quite a few of those. Being armed changes absolutely nothing about the encounter for a routine traffic stop. Because I already believe everyone is armed anyway.
I assume everyone I deal with will want to kill me at some point. People shoot cops because they don't want to go to jail for a DUI and a plenty of other stupid reasons. You may have just robbed a bank or murdered your wife and I have no idea about it. I take a host of measures to protect myself from whomever I am dealing with. The techniques I use are tried and tested techniques learned and compiled over the decades that have resulted in lower police deaths year after (until this year). They are clearly not foolproof. I can do everything right and still die. I train and keep myself in shape. I have to hope to get lucky. Reaction is by definition slower than action.
Rarely, very rarely do I disarm people. The idea here is to prevent a shooting through a misunderstanding or the aggressive offensive actions of the person I am dealing with. The last thing I ever want to do is shoot someone. That does not trump making my wife a widow and kids orphans.
If I believe that the person I am dealing with is intoxicated or dealing in intoxicants disarming them is the first thing I will do before proceeding on to other things. Intoxicated people often don't behave rationally and have difficulty communicating. Practically everyone who gets arrested consumes intoxicants at some point. The link between intoxicants and criminal behavior is rock solid near 100%.
The last person I disarmed who was not a career criminal was an armed security guard in uniform. Another officer who was transporting a prisoner had followed him for several miles and was convinced he was intoxicated based on his driving. Before conducting sobriety tests on him I took his pistol. I disarm everyone I do tests on. Turns out the guy had worked 20 hours straight and was just really tired and falling asleep. I was glad he wasn't drunk or high.
If you're worried about being misunderstood, the best policy is to LISTEN to what the officer requests of you, then COMMUNICATE that you are doing what you were asked.
This works best nearly all the time.
As a 22 year LEO, the last person I'm worried about being shot by is the person who took the time and paid the expense to get a permit. Shooting cops doesn't require a permit, so nobody gets one for that
True to a point. The point being where they are getting ready to get taken to jail for the first time and they don't want to go. We had a CCL kill an officer a couple of years ago out here at a DUI stop.