arsenal10
Member
Texas DPS love their takedowns
- Thread starter arsenal10
- Start date
With all that grille space, it makes me wonder why they didn't go for the Alaska State Troopers "moose lights" setup instead. Leaves more room for colored lights and projects more light IMO.
arsenal10
Member
zombieresponseteam said:
Shining at the rear bumper during a traffic stop.
Last edited by a moderator:
cybercop
Member
Don't mess with Texas.
We love ours as well, the Valor flood light feature at night plus spotlight, its like a second sun at o'dark thirty.
We love ours as well, the Valor flood light feature at night plus spotlight, its like a second sun at o'dark thirty.
The reason for them having all those takedowns is simple, they refer to it as "the wall of light" and state doesn't pay retail for the bars.
K9Vic
Member
The extra with DPS is that they work in very dark rural areas of Texas so they need more take downs. Front warning is not a major concern as they need more flood lighting over front warning. Some but few DPS cars will have a push bar, but I would not bet they would go to a system like Alaska. They should, maybe add some Rigid LED lights, but I think the lightbars are sufficient in their minds.
Side note: Texas DPS has only recently started using pillar mounted spotlights again after they stopped using them in the mid to early 90s. I do not know if they got rid of the spotlights for more take downs in the MX7000s, or they thought the cars would be more aerodynamic. Either way as long as I have been in Texas and going to the DPS auctions since 1999, only mid-early 90s cars had the spots that I saw being auctioned off. Strange now seeing DPS cars with spots, especially the Tahoe and Charger vehicles. I would hope they are the LED and not a halogen bulb and if LED it should be a 2 degree spot as the wall of light will do fine over a 8 degree spot.
Oh and DPS I have noticed has also gone to only a white hood on the Tahoe over the hood and roof being white. I see that the Ford SUV has the classic white hood & roof, so I wounder why the Tahoe just has the hood white.
Side note: Texas DPS has only recently started using pillar mounted spotlights again after they stopped using them in the mid to early 90s. I do not know if they got rid of the spotlights for more take downs in the MX7000s, or they thought the cars would be more aerodynamic. Either way as long as I have been in Texas and going to the DPS auctions since 1999, only mid-early 90s cars had the spots that I saw being auctioned off. Strange now seeing DPS cars with spots, especially the Tahoe and Charger vehicles. I would hope they are the LED and not a halogen bulb and if LED it should be a 2 degree spot as the wall of light will do fine over a 8 degree spot.
Oh and DPS I have noticed has also gone to only a white hood on the Tahoe over the hood and roof being white. I see that the Ford SUV has the classic white hood & roof, so I wounder why the Tahoe just has the hood white.
arsenal10
Member
K9Vic said:
There was an issue here in Texas brought up at about that time that some legal eagle somewhere felt that drilling holes in the A post for a spotlight degraded the structural integrity of the vehicle thus affecting the warranty and possibly creating a liability issue specifically in the event of a rollover. I don't think that "non-issue" ever amounted to much and may only serve to be one possible explanation. Don't bash me...I didn't say I agreed with it. I'm only relaying what my memory serves to remind me of.
Interestingly enough; Texas DPS cars' only warning light used to be a red spotlight mounted to the driver's side A post. Of course that was back in the 60's and early 70's.
TritonBoulder47
Member
K9Vic
Member
pop2one said:
That makes no sense if that is true when FORD installed the spotlights from the factory on the 92+ Crown Victoria, so there would not have been an issue with voiding of the warranty. Unless DPS wanted to install them to save a buck, but that would be stupid when it is done correctly at the factory, or by an approved factory up fitter such as Kerr Industries for the Chevy vehicles. I do not know if Ford at the factory did the spotlights, but the Tahoe is done by Kerr that is a tier 1 supplier about 1 mile from the factory in Arlington, TX and the Impala is in Oshawa, Ontario.
The caprice may have been an after factory add-on until it was dropped in 1996 (HILO should know that answer). That was the only other cop car that I ever saw DPS using in the late 90s other than the CVPI that was a factory option. So seems odd that is the reason why when it was mostly Fords CVPI for so long.
HILO
Member
Don't forget, clear/white light is an emergency vehicle color, like red and blue, in the Texas transportation code. So in theory, any flashing TD's are indeed warning lights that when displayed, give ROW. Clear/white flashing lights are a prohibited color just like red and blue in Texas, though clear and blue are not enforced very much.
Texas.
Texas.
K9Vic said:
I agree with everything that you've said especially "That makes no sense if that is true". It didn't make any sense to me then and still doesn't. Keep in mind, that may all be a bunch of bull relayed to me a long time ago. I'm not an upfitter, car dealer or a lawyer...just an end user of the products out there.
Strobe Craft
Member
zombieresponseteam said:
I run lights simliar to those, and damn...Do I love them. Lights up anything and everything. :hail:
pdk9
Member
Definitely NOT enough clear or TD power up front...I'd say it needs another 4 TD's, clear ghosts on the hood in steady burn, and a few pioneers mounted on a pushbar.
One thing I can't understand is I haven't yet seen anybody come up with a bracket that allows grill lights to be forward-facing when mounted on the interceptor SUV...there are so many out there that were made for F-series fenders, international grills, etc. so i'm hoping someone will take care of that problem for the interceptor SUVs, because I hate how the grill lights can't be mounted higher up at this point
One thing I can't understand is I haven't yet seen anybody come up with a bracket that allows grill lights to be forward-facing when mounted on the interceptor SUV...there are so many out there that were made for F-series fenders, international grills, etc. so i'm hoping someone will take care of that problem for the interceptor SUVs, because I hate how the grill lights can't be mounted higher up at this point
Eric1249
Member
zombieresponseteam said:
I have those same lights on the front of my truck. They are a focus beam of light. They have other covers that are supposed to make the beam of light wider. Not sure how well it actually works?
emtanderson51
Member
SHOF said:
They had the same option with the Liberty bars when they purchased these....If you look at the Freedom bars they like the 4 TD in front. I think it really is as simple as that...
Station 3
Member
One thing that bothers me and i have ASKED many times is "Why dont they have cages in the unit????? i asked several troopers during traffic stops in the past why they dont have them and they dont really know why they dont have them.... So im confused why not have them? I think its stupid to have a prisoner up front with you with a seatbelt on ESPECIALLY if DPS usually deals with DWIs and they usually are not happy they are getting a DWI. I would not want a drunk in the front seat of my unit while im driving to the jail.
11b101abn
New Member
K9Vic said:
I like the direction that they are going. Now, just get some dang push bumpers and call it good.
11b101abn
New Member
Station 3 said:
Enough troopers have died that they should know by now that they are not bullet proof. I think it's just institutional stupidity. Lazy and or mediocre chain of command.