I had the absolute honor to meet John Pederson, CEO / Founder / Inventor of 911 Emergency Products (911ep) today. After many years of trying to track them down, I was able to get in touch with their daughter who put me in touch with them. I spent several hours with John and his son today going through the archives they have kept, tinkering with lights, and hearing their stories. I'll share some highlights and things I learned below, along with several photos that I took.
We met late this morning at the office, lab, warehouse, and factory that they continue to invent new products out of. We started with tinkering with several lights that they still had around; mostly LS15s, TD30s, TDWL36s and LS12s that were surplus from the city of St. Cloud, Minnesota where 911ep was based out of. I learned that John had initially considered becoming a Minnesota State Trooper and befriended a Sergeant with MSP. When showing the Sergeant the multitude of products he was developing (to include wiring harnesses, electronic / digital control systems, and warning lights) the Sergeant encouraged him to continue making products. While tinkering with those they explained the process of sourcing the LEDs initially and the issues that they had finding the right shade of blue that could reliably be produced. I think we have all seen some of those more teal colored diodes of the early years... John told me about working closely with Hewlett-Packard to get the Lumileds to out perform the previous diodes that they were using, which began their partnership and why many later sticks had the HP sticker on them. I also learned about the difference in the optics and inner reflectors for these sticks. They created a version that had a channel between the three conical reflectors to allow better off-axis viewing. One of the "big three" competitors took issue to this and they ended up needing to change the 911ep design. While the Millennium lightbar was being tested by agencies around the area as a prototype, Smith & Wesson signed on as a strategic partner with 911ep and was a driving force in bringing the lightbar to the global marketplace. As the technology continued evolving, 911ep would eventually be sold to Armor Holdings and relocated to Florida.
While working on these sticks, I asked if they had any thing to do with the Cunanan Five-O lights that I also love. I learned that they also created that product! Cunanan is his wife's surname (Filipino origin). They created the company as Cunanan while living in the Philippines and changed it to Cunanan Law Enforcement Products LTD when they moved back to the USA. They further updated it to Five-O Emergency Products. 911ep was then born initially working with halogen and strobe products before pioneering LED emergency lighting.
While testing the light sticks, we came across several with the very uncommon WHITE LED cards. John explained to me that they were produced by making an ultra-violet LED and adding phosphorus to it. We scoured through a box of various parts and found new, sealed in package Millennium circuit boards, LED cards that were still attached to one another as they came from the factory, individual diodes new in the packages yet and more! Afterwards, John graciously offered me several of the light sticks and parts to take home.
We then went to one of their office areas that had a lot of very cool NASA memorabilia; including letters to John, photos from astronauts, and various space models. I learned that John has long been and continues to be an inventor, securing hundreds of patents and working on many projects for the government; holding an office in Florida at NASA even! One such company was for Li-Fi; think Wi-Fi but the data is transferred through LED lights instead. John's work with NASA led to a cadre of astronauts joining him at his alma matter, Apollo High School in St. Cloud, to demonstrate that technology and to talk about space missions. I was blessed with a couple of patches from these NASA contacts with John (photo will be included below).
Next I was shown one of the first 911ep Millennium lightbars that was used by the St. Cloud Police Department. After the initial trial, SCPD purchased many 911ep products over the next several years and this bar made its way back to the company; signed by the police department's officers at the time with a tribute from John and his wife Irene also signed on the top (photo will be included below).
Finishing the tour, we went through what I would call the 'archive' room. John and his son pulled out many, many files of old records from the company. I was able to look through the ORIGINAL company planning documents with financial predictions, their FIRST check ever received to 911ep, news articles, sales ads, etc. It was fascinating! The afternoon concluded by getting lunch with John, Irene and their son. They were truly gracious people and I am very grateful for the hospitality they showed a light nerd like me today.
Now for some photos!
![20260730_181042[1].jpg](https://elightbars.org/forums/data/attachments/213/213058-b8a0394b9254b6d95f74f2c6f8eb9cd1.jpg?hash=017hMl5JZZ "20260730_181042[1].jpg")
Light sticks that I brought home
Full-size advertising poster that is still on the office wall
The St. Cloud PD Millennium with the signatures.
Silicone caps over the original metal retention screws to aid in corrosion prevention. I was able to bring home a pack of these that are still new in the sealed packaging!
One of their first strobe advertisements.
An article explaining the 2000 partnership with S&W. John gifted me an original copy of this article that he still had on hand!
Some of their original strobe products and their first, short lived, LED stick before redesign.
A copy of the very first check made to 911ep in 1996! I edited out account numbers on the image for obvious reasons....
The first time I have seen an add for the 64, 224, and original LS-15. I have all three in my collection.
The 911ep seal and its Heraldry
The cover of the ORIGINAL 911ep company planning documents
![20260730_181103[1].jpg](https://elightbars.org/forums/data/attachments/213/213074-ef383bb5bca42111380eab775d292b27.jpg?hash=Vrqwj2nTot "20260730_181103[1].jpg")
Goody bag of parts
![20260730_181224[1].jpg](https://elightbars.org/forums/data/attachments/213/213076-d9dae437548dd09c02543be4fe585a30.jpg?hash=4xEZyw_V7I "20260730_181224[1].jpg")
Sealed bag of amber and red individual diodes
![20260730_181246[1].jpg](https://elightbars.org/forums/data/attachments/213/213077-728ca6b1003a24d46bbde5bdff56f61a.jpg?hash=w5OVCKI_nU "20260730_181246[1].jpg")
An GEN 1 CID that I brought home!
![20260730_181302[1].jpg](https://elightbars.org/forums/data/attachments/213/213078-dd5406fb0833052ac35532b411ac587a.jpg?hash=oBPu3ylYKR "20260730_181302[1].jpg")
The LED cards came attached like this (with many more) and were then broken off into the individual cards for use.
The Cunanan VIPER. John explained that this was used to control strobes. You could change patterns, flash rates, etc at the push of a button. We only found one of these so it stayed with John and his son for their archives.
We met late this morning at the office, lab, warehouse, and factory that they continue to invent new products out of. We started with tinkering with several lights that they still had around; mostly LS15s, TD30s, TDWL36s and LS12s that were surplus from the city of St. Cloud, Minnesota where 911ep was based out of. I learned that John had initially considered becoming a Minnesota State Trooper and befriended a Sergeant with MSP. When showing the Sergeant the multitude of products he was developing (to include wiring harnesses, electronic / digital control systems, and warning lights) the Sergeant encouraged him to continue making products. While tinkering with those they explained the process of sourcing the LEDs initially and the issues that they had finding the right shade of blue that could reliably be produced. I think we have all seen some of those more teal colored diodes of the early years... John told me about working closely with Hewlett-Packard to get the Lumileds to out perform the previous diodes that they were using, which began their partnership and why many later sticks had the HP sticker on them. I also learned about the difference in the optics and inner reflectors for these sticks. They created a version that had a channel between the three conical reflectors to allow better off-axis viewing. One of the "big three" competitors took issue to this and they ended up needing to change the 911ep design. While the Millennium lightbar was being tested by agencies around the area as a prototype, Smith & Wesson signed on as a strategic partner with 911ep and was a driving force in bringing the lightbar to the global marketplace. As the technology continued evolving, 911ep would eventually be sold to Armor Holdings and relocated to Florida.
While working on these sticks, I asked if they had any thing to do with the Cunanan Five-O lights that I also love. I learned that they also created that product! Cunanan is his wife's surname (Filipino origin). They created the company as Cunanan while living in the Philippines and changed it to Cunanan Law Enforcement Products LTD when they moved back to the USA. They further updated it to Five-O Emergency Products. 911ep was then born initially working with halogen and strobe products before pioneering LED emergency lighting.
While testing the light sticks, we came across several with the very uncommon WHITE LED cards. John explained to me that they were produced by making an ultra-violet LED and adding phosphorus to it. We scoured through a box of various parts and found new, sealed in package Millennium circuit boards, LED cards that were still attached to one another as they came from the factory, individual diodes new in the packages yet and more! Afterwards, John graciously offered me several of the light sticks and parts to take home.
We then went to one of their office areas that had a lot of very cool NASA memorabilia; including letters to John, photos from astronauts, and various space models. I learned that John has long been and continues to be an inventor, securing hundreds of patents and working on many projects for the government; holding an office in Florida at NASA even! One such company was for Li-Fi; think Wi-Fi but the data is transferred through LED lights instead. John's work with NASA led to a cadre of astronauts joining him at his alma matter, Apollo High School in St. Cloud, to demonstrate that technology and to talk about space missions. I was blessed with a couple of patches from these NASA contacts with John (photo will be included below).
Next I was shown one of the first 911ep Millennium lightbars that was used by the St. Cloud Police Department. After the initial trial, SCPD purchased many 911ep products over the next several years and this bar made its way back to the company; signed by the police department's officers at the time with a tribute from John and his wife Irene also signed on the top (photo will be included below).
Finishing the tour, we went through what I would call the 'archive' room. John and his son pulled out many, many files of old records from the company. I was able to look through the ORIGINAL company planning documents with financial predictions, their FIRST check ever received to 911ep, news articles, sales ads, etc. It was fascinating! The afternoon concluded by getting lunch with John, Irene and their son. They were truly gracious people and I am very grateful for the hospitality they showed a light nerd like me today.
Now for some photos!
Light sticks that I brought home
Full-size advertising poster that is still on the office wall
The St. Cloud PD Millennium with the signatures.
Silicone caps over the original metal retention screws to aid in corrosion prevention. I was able to bring home a pack of these that are still new in the sealed packaging!
One of their first strobe advertisements.
An article explaining the 2000 partnership with S&W. John gifted me an original copy of this article that he still had on hand!
Some of their original strobe products and their first, short lived, LED stick before redesign.
A copy of the very first check made to 911ep in 1996! I edited out account numbers on the image for obvious reasons....
The first time I have seen an add for the 64, 224, and original LS-15. I have all three in my collection.
The 911ep seal and its Heraldry
The cover of the ORIGINAL 911ep company planning documents
Goody bag of parts
Sealed bag of amber and red individual diodes
An GEN 1 CID that I brought home!
The LED cards came attached like this (with many more) and were then broken off into the individual cards for use.
The Cunanan VIPER. John explained that this was used to control strobes. You could change patterns, flash rates, etc at the push of a button. We only found one of these so it stayed with John and his son for their archives.
