NYPD is getting custom Blue Whelen LED Messengers installed on their RMP's 
http://www.ny1.com/content/122032/nypd-to-equip-cars-with-led-message-boards
http://www.ny1.com/content/122032/nypd-to-equip-cars-with-led-message-boards
NYPD To Equip Cars With LED Message Boards
- Thread starter Kirk @ K&D Lighting
- Start date
http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/law_enforcement/122032/nypd-to-equip-cars-with-led-message-boards
Looks neat funny a whelen product on the Vectors though.
Looks neat funny a whelen product on the Vectors though.
New york is in a budget crunch like everywhere else.. Ok lets spend money on message boards.. The Whelen dealer must be planning his retirement off this,. Waste of money..
I predict a rash of stopped patrol cars getting rear-ended while people sound it out. It's putting a lot of faith in the reading and comprehension level of the average driver.
Practically, they don't look nearly large enough. I'd rather have something like that one Canadian company makes that has some square footage. And instead of LEDs, I'd go LCD, so if I had to stop traffic at a scene for a long time I could pop in a DVD and play a movie for them, like a mid-highway drive-in.
Practically, they don't look nearly large enough. I'd rather have something like that one Canadian company makes that has some square footage. And instead of LEDs, I'd go LCD, so if I had to stop traffic at a scene for a long time I could pop in a DVD and play a movie for them, like a mid-highway drive-in.
New york is in a budget crunch like everywhere else.. Ok lets spend money on message boards.. The Whelen dealer must be planning his retirement off this,. Waste of money..
Appears to be just a Smart Arrow Messenger board in an Edge Plus housing; those aren't a new thing. However I don't remember there even being a blue one....just red or amber.
It's cool but I think its' a waste of money too. Going off '08 list prices (this thing isn't even listed in the current book), an amber one was $1700 (blue is probably more), control heads each are $400-$500, programming kits are like $400+
This version apparently has a way to control the messages 'on the fly'. In the older ones you had police, fire, or DOT libraries & had to use those messages unless you programmed in special ones.
If I want to know whats' going on in NYC that bad, I'll turn the TV on....not look for an NYPD car that might have a message board....
It's cool but I think its' a waste of money too. Going off '08 list prices (this thing isn't even listed in the current book), an amber one was $1700 (blue is probably more), control heads each are $400-$500, programming kits are like $400+
This version apparently has a way to control the messages 'on the fly'. In the older ones you had police, fire, or DOT libraries & had to use those messages unless you programmed in special ones.
If I want to know whats' going on in NYC that bad, I'll turn the TV on....not look for an NYPD car that might have a message board....
Maybe central command meaning, the base could send out an amber alert, but you can over ride by arrow or other warning functions.
Yea shows how much NYPD is hurting,first there was talks about laying off Officers thank god that got axed out Now this? Did i hear the Commissioner say every marked vehicle, are you serious? can we say total waste of money! :roll:
Now this? Did i hear the Commissioner say every marked vehicle, are you serious? can we say total waste of money! :roll:While I always have liked the message boards in practice they are just too small to be effective except at a street fair or other event when people are close enough to read them. Might be useful in traffic with amber alerts etc...
Now you see what happens when you get use-it-or-lose-it Homeland Security grant money. You can be closing firehouses due to a budget deficit but you can still buy useless toys like this. By the way do they do Chinese characters or have a Spanish translation built in? :roll:
Pimp said:
Ain't no way individual coppers will have ANY access to what message is displayed, or be able to input any unique message to an individual unit. It'd be decades before the novelty of cops sneaking into someone else's car, programming the board to read something like....never mind, just use your imagination, and crawl off giggling into the night, would wear off. The first episodes will be the simple ones, like (.)(.), and it'll just grow from there.
Respondcode3 said:
I was under the impression that Kirk @ K&D Lighting was their whelen dealer (or atleast is somehow involved) :? :twisted:
Stendec said:
No, what I meant was one person control all of them (in a given area) on the fly... They said they would be used to display amber alert type stuff, etc... That would require changing them on the fly but the video also said it would be done by a central command. I wonder if they can do that remotely, i.e., the car is in the field and they change the message from the station... See what I'm saying, now?
We've had these for years here, most marked units run them here in Australia. Most don't even bother touching them.
I wonder if its a Whelen product . I would say Fed Sig made it. They have a very strong hold on the NYPD with Millions of dollors in contracts. I think it blocks the lightbar and what happened to the Arrow Stick? In Sydney Australia every marked car has them and they dont use them. I think its a waste of money. Mabey just for Highway units, not all RMP's .
Kirk @ K&D Lighting said:NYPD is getting custom Blue Whelen LED Messengers installed on their RMP's
http://www.ny1.com/content/122032/nypd-to-equip-cars-with-led-message-boards
This is why we never get a good raise... they buy this nonsense.
After over a year, i just received my ballistic vest.
They are using these message boards IN PLACE of Arrows as they state that the public doesn't pay attention to Arrows, but will read messages. Blue was the best visible color. It is a Whelen Board mounted to the back of the Federal Vision Bar that they have used forever. There is a controller inside the car that has 32 pre-programmed messages activated by 32 different buttons. The Default Message is "Police....Slow Down"
They are going on every marked unit and Federal didn't have one so they are using Whelen....
They are going on every marked unit and Federal didn't have one so they are using Whelen....
spartybob said:
The public will not pay attention to these either... Its NY no one cares what is going on there. They just want to get on with their own business.
unlisted said:
D&R Electronics Road Alert
http://www.dandrelectronics.com/DandR-ProductCatalog.nsf/9c60a652b7caee2d85256f6f00715d44/b07cf76ccb90351e8525764700449b7c!OpenDocument
unlisted said:
Come on Chris! theyre from your area! think of that P/S you sent me. D&R electronics make them, MTO uses them lots
Richard P said:
weird- the MTO in my area still uses those freaking useless POS amber Whelen messenger boards.. Maybe I will go poke around the MTO lot on Monday again, see if they have upgraded.
Are those D&R ones any good?
I saw one of these on an NYPD car last week and I have to say they actually look pretty good. Something about the Blue really makes it pop and it was pretty clear to read from a distance.
We had one of these in my dept many years ago in Red and it didn't show up well. Something about the blue makes it look much different.
As far as it being a waste of money, from what I am told they were not much more than their current arrowstick so that shouldn't be an issue. However, for a dept where most traffic seems to move at less than 10 mph I can see where this may actually be a fairly useful tool. For anyone who spends any time driving in Manhattan you know that when you are sitting in traffic with an accident or something ahead every driver is trying to get around that scene any way they can. I just think that if you had a few cars there all displaying a common message to "Move Right" or something it may be pretty effective. At least more so than an arrowstick which is probably one of the most useless lighting products made.
I don't know. Either way I am sure NYPD did their homework on this prior to purchasing so they know the situation better than any of us can speculate.
We had one of these in my dept many years ago in Red and it didn't show up well. Something about the blue makes it look much different.
As far as it being a waste of money, from what I am told they were not much more than their current arrowstick so that shouldn't be an issue. However, for a dept where most traffic seems to move at less than 10 mph I can see where this may actually be a fairly useful tool. For anyone who spends any time driving in Manhattan you know that when you are sitting in traffic with an accident or something ahead every driver is trying to get around that scene any way they can. I just think that if you had a few cars there all displaying a common message to "Move Right" or something it may be pretty effective. At least more so than an arrowstick which is probably one of the most useless lighting products made.
I don't know. Either way I am sure NYPD did their homework on this prior to purchasing so they know the situation better than any of us can speculate.
+1 on the waste of money idea. Also was it just me or did that message board block like 95% of the vison bars light to the rear of the car. At least mount that POS in the rear deck so the light bar can still do what it was put up on top of the car for in the first place. IMO this is one of the worst ideas I have ever seen from NYPD. :roll:
Looking of the vid from the news. It looks like the Highway patrol has it right. The Vision is much higher and the message board doesnt block the bar. the regular RMP's it blocks the bar, they do have duel Red Blue leds in the rear windows of all RMP's. I would still like to know who made them. Im sure Fed Sig did since they have a very strong hold over the NYPD. I dont think the Vision LED bars are that bright. They only fill them up half way and the Tomar and Whelen LED's are much brighter. Kudos to whoever got the contract that will set them up for the next year for sure.