MPDC Impala

nerdly_dood

Member
Jun 15, 2010
2,312
Georgia
A blue light flickers in the distance. What ever could it be?


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It must be a police car.


ai1006.photobucket.com_albums_af184_doodofnerdlyness_foe_toez_P1010129_1.jpg


And so it is. But the lightbar looks kinda big... surely they didn't...?


ai1006.photobucket.com_albums_af184_doodofnerdlyness_foe_toez_P1010131.jpg


...They did! It's a Valor!


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The blue cruise lights appear to be done by flashing too fast for the eye to see, but plenty slow enough for a camera to catch it mid-flash.


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RL1

Member
May 20, 2010
1,649
Ga
Awesome. Too bad they have the stupid rims, but the rest is cool.
 
May 25, 2010
7,072
Tunkhannock, PA, USA
I think the black steelies look mean as hell... Especially with that stainless trim ring... But I am kinda partial, since my Av has black 20s with a polished lip... lol
 

RL1

Member
May 20, 2010
1,649
Ga
kenton1979 said:
I am a big fan of the steel wheels, but to each their own.

I prefer steel wheels on police vehicles, but hate the silver ring
 

DaCityPolice

Member
May 23, 2010
44
Washington, DC
Jared @ 911Lights said:
Too bad they switched back to flashing cruise lights. When the switched from the Vista to the Legend they went to steady burn cruise lights which I think were more effective and less confusing to tourists. They should really go for an exterior frame lightbar that would let them use the corners as low power cruise lights.

-Jared

The cruise lights only appear to flash in videos. They are still steady burn blues (the two forward facing front modules and the two outer-most rear modules). The screwy thing is now the cruise lights are on an aux button on the SS2000SM controller and the Position One switch doesn't control anything. Still no rear lights only option.
 

acs680

Member
Nov 23, 2010
220
Tennessee
DaCityPolice said:
The cruise lights only appear to flash in videos. They are still steady burn blues (the two forward facing front modules and the two outer-most rear modules). The screwy thing is now the cruise lights are on an aux button on the SS2000SM controller and the Position One switch doesn't control anything. Still no rear lights only option.

This is because if you are not using a Smartsiren Platinum or PA300-CN, you can not access the cruise light mode without having it programmed into modes 1, 2, 3 or intersection... If using a convergence controller, you can keep all 4 modes, and have cruise lights. If they were smart, they would have utilized mode 2 as rear, mode 3 as front and rear, and intersection as mode 3 whatever that is.


Also, neither of these videos show the cruise lights activated... The bar is in warning mode, but the rear is only lit up on the ends because they have Warn 1 activated on the SS2000SM. Nothing bothers me more than someone not deactivating the Warn modes on the Smartsiren when using a lightbar that does not need it. Chances are, MPDCs Valors have a dual color Signalmaster, but they will never see it with Warn being activated.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

LRGJr72

Member
May 29, 2010
790
Detroit, Michigan
I've never understood why the DCPD calls itself "Metropolitan Police." Their only jurisdiction is within the district. So when did use of the word "metro" become part of the department's name and WHY?
 

nerdly_dood

Member
Jun 15, 2010
2,312
Georgia
LRGJr72 said:
I've never understood why the DCPD calls itself "Metropolitan Police." Their only jurisdiction is within the district. So when did use of the word "metro" become part of the department's name and WHY?
Early on, Georgetown was a separate municipality within the District of Columbia, and Washington was a separate city, presumably with its own police department that eventually expanded to include Georgetown.

As for the cruise lights, they looked to me like two forward-facing and two rear-facing low-intensity blue lights. I was pretty surprised that my camera only showed one light on at a time; it hasn't done that with the Legend cruise lights. IMO low-intensity steady blue is the best cruise light setup for police - low intensity and steady burning to make it clear that it's not used as a warning light, only identification; it doesn't include a steady red to confuse people from California or to conflict with its stock marker lights, ditto the last for amber, green would be confusing, and white wouldn't have any immediately-apparent meaning.


This was a pretty interesting find for me - quite unlike most urban police cars, this car was immaculate. The tires in particular show how clean it is. I don't know if it was just a brand-spanking-new cruiser or if it was specially set up for Memorial Day - it wasn't a parade piece, unlike the similarly-immaculate police commissioner's car, which makes me think the latter is unlikely.


Maybe it was just harder to see because the bar was turned on, but it looked to me like FedSig did an amazing job at hiding the bar's awkward shape - from any angle where the bar's meant to be viewed, it just looks like any other low-profile LED lightbar, just with a wider profile when viewed from the side. The most easily-visible awkward thing was the tall, clunky-looking mounting feet, and having the bar turned on hid that pretty well.
 

DaCityPolice

Member
May 23, 2010
44
Washington, DC
acs680 said:
This is because if you are not using a Smartsiren Platinum or PA300-CN, you can not access the cruise light mode without having it programmed into modes 1, 2, 3 or intersection... If using a convergence controller, you can keep all 4 modes, and have cruise lights. If they were smart, they would have utilized mode 2 as rear, mode 3 as front and rear, and intersection as mode 3 whatever that is.

Also, neither of these videos show the cruise lights activated... The bar is in warning mode, but the rear is only lit up on the ends because they have Warn 1 activated on the SS2000SM. Nothing bothers me more than someone not deactivating the Warn modes on the Smartsiren when using a lightbar that does not need it. Chances are, MPDCs Valors have a dual color Signalmaster, but they will never see it with Warn being activated.

It's a policy decision by the fleet management civilians to use the SS2000SM and not controllers more capable of handling cruise lights. Also, Mode 2 on the Valor and Legend is set to a slower pattern with Mode 3 a faster pattern (that includes white flash on the Valor).


And the rear does have a dual color signalmaster to the rear. For whatever reason, this officer selected Warn Pattern 1 and that's why it's flashing single alternating yellow to the rear. The rear of the bar is left red, right blue, both of the outermost rear modules are red/blue and the eight inner modules are red or blue with amber. The front is left red/white, right blue/white, both of the forward facing modules are red/blue/white.

nerdly_dood said:
Early on, Georgetown was a separate municipality within the District of Columbia, and Washington was a separate city, presumably with its own police department that eventually expanded to include Georgetown.

This was a pretty interesting find for me - quite unlike most urban police cars, this car was immaculate. The tires in particular show how clean it is. I don't know if it was just a brand-spanking-new cruiser or if it was specially set up for Memorial Day - it wasn't a parade piece, unlike the similarly-immaculate police commissioner's car, which makes me think the latter is unlikely.

Yep, it's the Metropolitan Police Department because it originally covered the cities of Washington and Georgetown and the rest of the unincorporated areas of the District of Columbia. And the car is that clean because it's brand new and a take home car.
 

LRGJr72

Member
May 29, 2010
790
Detroit, Michigan
nerdly_dood said:
Early on, Georgetown was a separate municipality within the District of Columbia, and Washington was a separate city, presumably with its own police department that eventually expanded to include Georgetown
.


But you could say the same for any large police and fire dept in the country. There was a time when the the five boroughs of NYC were managed and policed separately. Every major city in the country has gone through annexations and consolidations. Most of them brand their department's name with the jurisdiction's current name & status. I understand tradition, but calling them Metropolitan Police is 'technically' incorrect as the the term metropolitan now means MUCH more than a couple of close communities, formerly separated. Other agencies named, in my opinion, erroneously: Nashville Metro Police (only patrols Davidson County), Las Vegas Metro PD (run by the sheriff and only within Clark County), Indianapolis Metro Police (only in Marion County), Louisville Metro Police (only in Jefferson County). The actual Nashville metropolitan area consists of 13 counties. So "Nashville-Davidson Police" or just "County Police" would make a lot more sense.
 

RL1

Member
May 20, 2010
1,649
Ga
LR, you would hate Savannah-Metro then. They were Chatham County PD and Savannah Police until the early 2000's when they joined to become the Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department. I think Chatham County taking in SPD and keeping their name would have been a simple way of doing it, but they didn't ask me. Then again, I was in high school at the time...
 

nerdly_dood

Member
Jun 15, 2010
2,312
Georgia
So apparently that wasn't just a one-off show car. They appear to have chosen the Valor as their next standard lightbar.


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