arsenal10
Member
zombieresponseteam said: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.
zombieresponseteam said: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.
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arsenal10 said:Shining at the rear bumper during a traffic stop.
K9Vic said: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.
acala91 said:It makes no sense to go with eight LR-11s when two SXTDLED modules would accomplish the same thing and free up two more modules for warning and it would be cheaper.
pop2one 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.
K9Vic 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.
zombieresponseteam said: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.
View attachment 51295
zombieresponseteam said: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.
View attachment 51295
JazzDad said:A number of good theories postulated, however... the DPS puts all those takedowns up there so the trooper can make shadow puppets on the back window of the vehicle that he/she just stopped. It gives the whole incident a more festive atmosphere.
SHOF said:They should just strike a deal with Whelen for the new Legacy bars. All the light you could ever want out of a lightbar.
JazzDad said:A number of good theories postulated, however... the DPS puts all those takedowns up there so the trooper can make shadow puppets on the back window of the vehicle that he/she just stopped. It gives the whole incident a more festive atmosphere.
K9Vic said: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.
Station 3 said: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.