Lighting my 2013 F-150.... try to explain best as I can! multiple jobs

[fireman616wfd]

Hey guys, I will try to explain my jobs best I can and hope to have some suggestions from you guys.


First off in Mississippi, colors for emergency services are as follows: Law Enforcement = Blue Fire/EMS = Red


Ok so I live in a small county where I am... Narcotics Officer (law), Marshall/Police Chief of my tiny little town (law), County Fire Investigator (law), Fire Chief of the same little town Volly Dept (Fire) and run EMS calls (Fire)


NOW, this truck is my personal vehicle... I use it for all of the above but not just a ton. Sheriff of County said I needed some blue lights in this vehicle doing some of the law side out of it so I was wondering what I should do as far as lighting, what kind and where to put lights? My back glass is a sliding glass so a light stick is out of the question because of that.


Budget = $1,000 and I already have the handheld siren.


Should I do a dual color and set one to turn blue on only or opposite with red or just run Red/Blue to everything???

 

[fireman616wfd]

Forgot to add... All windows are tinted to 18% with a tint strip "eyebrow" on front windshield.

 

[Doug]

Should I do a dual color and set one to turn blue on only or opposite with red or just run Red/Blue to everything???

I realize you're the police AND fie chief, but is t legal for fire to run red and blue? If not, you my want to consider a multi-color light head such as the Sound-Off nFORCE series (also available as a dash light), a headlight flasher and perhaps hide-a-way LEDs in the front and rear turn signals. You could add blue hide-a-ways in the back-up lamp housings. This would give you a basic stealthy package. If you wanted, you could also add some Sound Off Intersectors under the side rear-view mirrors (there's also spay tint you could apply to mask their presence).


You mentioned you have the hand-held siren already; do you already have a speaker, too?

 

[fireman616wfd]

Fire Investigators (previous) in this county has always ran red/blue. One was a fire chief and ran that on all calls. The sheriff just said "hey, u need some red and blue lights" so that's what I am attempting haha.

 

[Doug]

I'm guessing you want to keep the POV covert, especially being a narc.

 

[fireman616wfd]

I'm guessing you want to keep the POV covert, especially being a narc.

yup very much so! However I really don't feel like messing with putting HAWs in.

 

[Doug]

Brake/back-up flasher? However, I don't know if they will play nicely with the OEM circuitry.

 

[cybercop]

I would say red/blue since you are both.

 

[okc_f150]

I agree, red and blue. You could do the Feniex Apollo exteriors behind the grill, and in the lip between your tailgate and the bed. Throw in a HLF/TLF and maybe a dash light and call it good. You could set the Apollos to run blue on one switch and red on the other. Or just run red/blue.

 

[jhallgren22]

Why not just do all blue? Around here the police respond to fire calls anyways so it wouldn't matter what color your lights are since you are the chief of police too?

 

[hoj1192]

What kind of siren do you have already???

 

[MEVS06]

Casey, just go red/blue. Make it simple.

 

[ERM]

Why is this the age-old question of which color to run? People are going to move for either color, right? It's about requesting right of way. As long as people move to the right, then do whatever works. Do people say "Aw heck, he's fire, he can wait"? Even when you're on scene, does it matter? The flashing light is to warn people and to identify yourself as a person of authority on scene.


Now, if you're pulling someone over, then definitely make sure you're running cop colors, but for responding, I say whatever works best. Remember, one color works better during the day while the other better at night.


In an emergency, you do what it takes to get the job done. Why would someone be so picky as to the color that was used? That's like complaining that someone was doing CPR with left hand over right as opposed to right hand over left. :duh:

 

[Krsdog25]

Coming at it from a law enforcement perspective, run only blue/clear lights. Last thing you want is to get on the stand for a major narc bust and have the case tossed cause the shittum claimed he was confused by the multiple light colors. Keep it simple and go blue, last thing you want to worry about during a take down is which color lights you just turned on.


For Fire/EMS all you want is people to get out of your way and not hit you on scene so blue accomplishes that and tends to get more respect/quicker yielding(IMO) when responding to calls. Pretty sure he doesn't have to worry about pissing anyone off going to Fire/EMS calls with his blue lights seeing as he is the Chief of Police for the jurisdiction in which he'll be responding.


Good Luck and Stay Safe


PS - Get some Ions and a can of spray tint...you can't go wrong

 

[AllStrobedUp]

Coming at it from a law enforcement perspective, run only blue/clear lights. Last thing you want is to get on the stand for a major narc bust and have the case tossed cause the shittum claimed he was confused by the multiple light colors. Keep it simple and go blue, last thing you want to worry about during a take down is which color lights you just turned on.

For Fire/EMS all you want is people to get out of your way and not hit you on scene so blue accomplishes that and tends to get more respect/quicker yielding(IMO) when responding to calls. Pretty sure he doesn't have to worry about pissing anyone off going to Fire/EMS calls with his blue lights seeing as he is the Chief of Police for the jurisdiction in which he'll be responding.


Good Luck and Stay Safe


PS - Get some Ions and a can of spray tint...you can't go wrong

I have found the perforated black vinyl works amazing for hiding light without hindering output.