Do you have strobes in your POV?

[Dan]

Do you have strobes or lights of any kinds in your POV? Just wanted to see how many LEOs here had them. Every officer in my town and surrounding area has them in theirs, which is probly because they are small departments

[ray98]

no.....none of my peers have them either.

[Stump]

No, nobody in my whole county has them in their own car. Absolutely nobody.

[jeff92k7]

Not here. It is a violation of state law to have warning lights in your personal vehicle aside from the standard hazard flashers. Even the construction vehicles that have flashing lights are in violation of the transportation code if they have the lights on while on a public roadway.

[sbrad]

Not just no but HELL no.

[Hightower]

No, I don't have strobes on my POV. My question is why would you want them?? If your insurance company found out that you were using your POV for emergency response, your rates would get jacked up.

Hightower

[Dan]

Originally posted by Hightower
No, I don't have strobes on my POV. My question is why would you want them?? If your insurance company found out that you were using your POV for emergency response, your rates would get jacked up.

Hightower

If the SHTF and I was a officer in my town or another small town where the ussually have 1-2 cops on duty at a time, you bet your *** Ill want my fellow officers to have lights in their povs.

Also usefull at details(like road construction, ect...) since we have one marked unit, the marked unti will stay on patrol and the officers assigned to details will use their POVs and activate their lights to warn people. Also seen them used during stings

[Stump]

Oh hell no. That is a really dumb decision by the powers that be.

[mcsap]

Only legal on emergency vehicles in my state. Auto-Zone sells them and we make the kids take them off.

Not one person I work with owns a vehicle that in anyway resembles a police vehicle. None want to. None of them have any equipment on board that identifies who they are in any way ( except an FOP decal) .

The liability of using emergency equipment on a non-emergency vehicle ( such as a POV) could be catastrophic in the event of a crash. We NEVER use POV's for any kind of patrol. Again , the exposure to liability is something that those of us who own property, have families and want to retire someday do not want to risk.

Dan, if you were to install them and they were legal in your state, under what circumstances would you use them ?

[Dan]

Originally posted by mcsap
We NEVER use POV's for any kind of patrol.

Dan, if you were to install them and they were legal in your state, under what circumstances would you use them ?

Neither does my town. As i said before they only use them for emergencies/details

When another officer needs back-up, or on a detail since my town only has one marked unit

[P01IC3M4N]

Originally posted by jeff92k7
Not here. It is a violation of state law to have warning lights in your personal vehicle aside from the standard hazard flashers. Even the construction vehicles that have flashing lights are in violation of the transportation code if they have the lights on while on a public roadway.

(1) "Authorized emergency vehicle" means:
(D) a private vehicle of a volunteer firefighter or a certified emergency medical services employee or volunteer when responding to a fire alarm or medical emergency;

i used to have them when i was a vol. firefighter and an EMS 1st responder; by policy you had to. i had them all discreetly hidden away though. when i left, i removed all the equipment. i know of no police officer who has emergency lights in their personal vehicle.

as far as the maintenance vehicles go, the state left it open to what they want to use by THEIR standards.

(e) A person may not operate highway maintenance or service equipment, including snow-removal equipment, that is not equipped with lamps or that does not display lighted lamps as required by the standards and specifications adopted by the Texas Department of Transportation.

texas is real vague on their equipment laws anyway; something NHTSA has already brought to their attention on several occassions.

[P01IC3M4N]

Originally posted by Dan
If the SHTF and I was a officer in my town or another small town where the ussually have 1-2 cops on duty at a time, you bet your *** Ill want my fellow officers to have lights in their povs.

Also usefull at details(like road construction, ect...) since we have one marked unit, the marked unti will stay on patrol and the officers assigned to details will use their POVs and activate their lights to warn people. Also seen them used during stings

how you going to explain to your insurance company that you were an authorized emergency vehicle assisting another officer or attending some traffic direction assignment when you had your accident?

in the FD, we were covered under their policy, but it was a non-profit, non-paid organization. i have never seen a PD with the same policy.

[mcsap]

I guess small towns do certain things in a different way but I am still tring to think of what "details" or emergencies that they would have to have strobes for. How about 4 way flashers or perhaps when they arrive on scene, THEN put a Kojack light on the roof?

Our local Chevy dealer called us last year. A local yocal who has some sort of fetish for PD owns a mid 90's Impala. Dark blue look a like LE car. He installed wig-wags on it. While in for inspection , the garage called us. We sent our own mechanic down to de-install them and than billed him for the labor.

Our laws do not allow ANY kind of ornamental lights, neon , colored headlights, green tail lights etc. All of the aftermarket stores sell them and we promtly make the car owner remove them, sometimes with a $104 fine.

[Dan]

Originally posted by P01IC3M4N
how you going to explain to your insurance company that you were an authorized emergency vehicle assisting another officer or attending some traffic direction assignment when you had your accident?

I think the insurance company would understand the situation, Its never happened here so I dont know what they would do.

[Dan]

Originally posted by mcsap
I guess small towns do certain things in a different way but I am still tring to think of what "details" or emergencies that they would have to have strobes for.

Well, for example

the highway department was re-paving about a mile of a road, 1 lane at a time so there was only one lane available for traffic. A Jeep at one end with 3 blue lights on the rollbar(like 4inchs wide, 2inches tall)
at the other end was a Ford Superduty with strobes on and 2 blue lights in the grille. road has a 45mph limit, but people ussually go 50 on it and its pretty twisty at times.

Which would catch your attention more, a vehicle with its hazards on, or a vehicle with bluelights/strobes.