Here are some pictures of Police vehicles, I took in Honolulu. More pics to come soon.
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Honolulu Police Vehicles (More pictures)
- Thread starter fedsig7
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REALLY odd lighting with the single beacon. Do they run just blue or is there any red hidden in the full bars?
Back in the 1970s they used a single Whelen Model 44 Rota Beam rotating beacon with a quick disconnect mount.
The marked cars had Federal 174 Beacon Rays. All lights were blue.
Dan
The marked cars had Federal 174 Beacon Rays. All lights were blue.
Dan
Why the full length crossbar? A magnetic beacon would do the same thing. There must be a state law about having a full-width "bar" across the roof or something.
They are offered a big pay incentive to use their POV's vs. having to ship department owned cruisers in. No sure about why they have the crossbars.
I heard that Hawaii was big on Officer owned patrol vehicles, but thought that most had switched to department owned by now.
i'm betting the bars, are so the beacon is more stable then a magnet, but can still be easily removed when not in service.
i'm betting the bars, are so the beacon is more stable then a magnet, but can still be easily removed when not in service.
ParkPiggy said:
I think they are easily removable. HPD officers were known for owning and using Buick Grand Nationals back in the mid 80's and they too had those bars, so they must have a bunch of them.
fedsig7 said:Here are some pictures of Police vehicles, I took in Honolulu. More pics to come soon.
So if they use their POV, which I think is good in some ways, but what "makes" them a police vehicle other than a blue light? I mean in all the pictures all I see is the little tag in the right hand corner of the vehicles but I assumed those were like inspection stickers or registration or what not. I didn't see anything to the front stating they are a real police vehicle.
I can just see some nut job pullin off the impersonator just because they have a blue light. I don't know.
I can just see some nut job pullin off the impersonator just because they have a blue light. I don't know.
Directly from the HPD website: http://www.honolulupd.org/hrd/mpr_faq.htm
Does HPD pay patrol officers to drive unmarked police vehicles?
Yes. The Department has a subsidized vehicle program. After serving several years in the Department, an officer has the opportunity to purchase his/her personal vehicle. The vehicle is selected from a list of Department-approved vehicles. HPD pays the officers a subsidy for purchasing and maintaining the vehicle, which could be used both on and off duty.
And per our friend Wikipedia:
The Honolulu Police Department and the Hawai'i County Police Department supplements its fleet of marked patrol cars by allowing the use of the personally owned vehicles of police officers which are partially subsidized by department funds. These include not only American cars but Japanese cars such as the Toyota 4Runner and Camry, Honda Pilot, Nissan Altima, XTerra and Murano. These cars are made distinguishable as on-duty police vehicles with the addition of a removable blue light bar.
Does HPD pay patrol officers to drive unmarked police vehicles?
Yes. The Department has a subsidized vehicle program. After serving several years in the Department, an officer has the opportunity to purchase his/her personal vehicle. The vehicle is selected from a list of Department-approved vehicles. HPD pays the officers a subsidy for purchasing and maintaining the vehicle, which could be used both on and off duty.
And per our friend Wikipedia:
The Honolulu Police Department and the Hawai'i County Police Department supplements its fleet of marked patrol cars by allowing the use of the personally owned vehicles of police officers which are partially subsidized by department funds. These include not only American cars but Japanese cars such as the Toyota 4Runner and Camry, Honda Pilot, Nissan Altima, XTerra and Murano. These cars are made distinguishable as on-duty police vehicles with the addition of a removable blue light bar.
Well still, "Department-approved vehicles" can just mean you can't drive anything other that X, Y, Z vehicle.
I just didn't know what made them a police vehicle other than the blue light.
I just didn't know what made them a police vehicle other than the blue light.
Fluffy126577 said:
Apparently that is the only thing that makes them a distinguishable police vehicle, the removable blue light. Weird.
sbparkcop said:
That is weird. I would think they would want some kind of sticker or something on the car to say "Look, I am a real cop, just not some ice head looking to kill and rob you"
Fluffy126577 said:
Agreed. A single, removable strobe beacon/"light bar" seems too easy to replicate, to me.
Also, without any uniformity to what a patrol vehicle looks like (a standard Crown Vic, Impala, etc), I'd think it would be kind of difficult for the general public to immediately distinguish the police from the regular motoring public.
What about your local department's unmarked cars? Would you pull over for them? I dare say the HPD have the same procedures as other departments when people don't stop for unmarked cars. Plus I hazard a guess they might jump on wannabes pretty hard because of their vehicle policy, I know my local, Canberra Australia, police will run you down hard if you even hint at being a wannabe.Blade Runner said:
irsa76 said:
Trust me, thost are just as questioned and discussed also. And to be honest, a lot of unmarked units I have seen around will call for a marked unit to effect the stop. Also the unmarked units are not being used as normal patrol vehicles as these units are. And to add another onto that, if you use a unmarked unit to pull people over they normally have a special plate to let people know "Hey, I AM a cop so stop."
It just looks like these people have normal plates with a blue blinky on top which is very eay to replicate.
lol. those single beacons look kinda funny IMO and it looks like they spent more money on the brackets than the strobe beacons themselves (never saw those when i lived in hawaii)
That is kind of cool idea of using the LEO's own car to save money. I have never seen that before. I am not sure I like just having the one strobe on top like that. I would rather they have at lest some other kind of marking on them other then just the one light. But it must works for them or they would not use it so much. Do they have HLF and TLF as well or just that one light on top?
The single blue beacon screams of FAIL at trying to imitate Michigan SP.
The lady Sergeant in the Durango however
The lady Sergeant in the Durango however
Only the upper ranks get to use their own vehicles with the single blue strobe, and the regular officers get a patrol car.
irsa76 said:
No, I won't pull over for anything but a marked police unit. There are way too many whackers out there with bad intentions to take the risk otherwise. And as for them running down the "wannabes", they usually don't do anything unless they're called. HPD84, I'm sure you'll read this, and it's not a knock on H.P.D., it's just that the officers are usually busy with the other turds that inhabit this fine city.
Trust me, I understand what HPD stands for, as we work with then when we have MVA's on the interstate. We don't have anything on the books down here regarding steady burning blue lights, as technically, blue is not considered an "emergency color" by the state of Texas.
I was talking entirely about the blue lights on the Honolulu Police Department vehicles. Which would make sense, yes?Blade Runner said:
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There ya go Blade...
There ya go Blade...
The people of Honolulu know all about them - they've been doing it forever. I haven't seen a picture of a marked HPD car for quite a while.
I don't know how they pull it off budget-wise, and knowing the beating that cop cars take and what they go through, I know take-homes are better cared for, but I'd sure consider my choice of purchase carefully.
I also don't know how Hawaii does taxes - in some areas a take home car has been considered a financial benefit, and in others the use of POVs is a write-off
I don't know how they pull it off budget-wise, and knowing the beating that cop cars take and what they go through, I know take-homes are better cared for, but I'd sure consider my choice of purchase carefully.
I also don't know how Hawaii does taxes - in some areas a take home car has been considered a financial benefit, and in others the use of POVs is a write-off