What flashlights are police carrying these days?

[ghostguy6]

I had one of these clipped to my vest and it was a god send when it came to writing notes. It also worked amazing well for navigation in the dark, almost like a headlamp.

2220 VB3™ Flashlight | Pelican

2220 VB3™ Flashlight rechargeable flashlight intrinsically safe for hazardous areas. Super bright flashlight with best high lumens LED, guaranteed for life.

www.pelican.com

 

[Monocrom]

I get that quite often. If possible I always attach a lanyard to my flashlights. The Eagtac design works really well. I find that it stops the flashlight slipping out of my hand.

Directly borrowed from the older gen. SureFire L1.
Even pulls apart the very same way.
Oh well, if you're going to copy something, might as well copy the best from back in the day.

 

[Lights and Guns]

I'd say the best suited would be the Malkoffs, stream lights, modlites, surefires.

Those come to mind for police due to their power and size that are afforded by them.

Gone are the days that police need to carry huge and heavy lights.

 

[bykfixer]

The statees in my state carry big head Stingers with a Strion for backup. They are very disciplined and often former military. Most are in Chuck Norris condition.

The local yocals are issued SL20's with whatever backup they choose. They don't have the good equipment like state police. But it's not unusual to see a $40 Nite Core or a 511 light clipped to their belt.

 

[aznsx]

with a Strion for backup

That's what's 'got my 6'.

 

[jz6342]

In the Low Country of SC I've seen the following:

Streamlight Stinger DS (overwhelming choice, probably due to cost)
Streamlight SL20 Poly (only seen a few of these)
Maglite Magcharger (saw a couple of troopers with these)
Streamlight 2L (both rechargeable and regular - on a lot of belts and vests)
Feniex PD35 & 36 (seem to be mostly personal purchases)

I've also seen a lot of cheap Harbor Freight stuff.

 

[Fugs]

So Cal...

Carried a Fenix PD36 on a belt holster. I liked the recharging capability via USB-C. Made it quick and easy to recharge from inside the car while running from call to call. Not having to remove the battery to recharge was huge. This was my go to light for years and it held up. I used it as my primary light. Kept a small USB battery pack in my vest with a USB-C cable to recharge...just in case.

Fenix TK 16 carried in a pouch on my outer vest. I liked the brightness it afforded but I did not like having to remove the battery to recharge. When doing a yard search, perimeter, large properties, etc. when its pitch dark at 0200, the combo of brightness and run time was exceptional. I used it as my backup light or if/when I needed more brightness or battery ran low on the PD36.

Maglite ML50L carried in a sap pocket or in my door handle. Although not the brightest light and certainly not the smallest, what it lacked for in brightness it made up for in throw and run time. When running a dog through several properties or doing a search for hours on end, runtime was king. If I knew I was going to be out of my unit for an extended period, I made sure to grab the Mag. Ran rechargeable NiMh C cells.

Fenix LD15R on my vest. Having a compact yet adjustable brightness light facing outward was handy for taking notes, FI's, searching, etc. Some tasks require two hands and although holding a light in your mouth was mentioned in a previous post, have you ever been searching someone and had them evacuate explosive diarrhea all over the place? NOTHING on my person or any of my gear is going anywhere near my mouth thank you very much.

Fenix E01 on my keychain. Sometimes a quick light when using a cuff key or something similar is handy.

Ran Gen 5 Glock 17 MOS with a Streamlight TLR-1HL. Surefire DSF-870 forend on the Rem 870. Old school Surefire M500AB-RD on the AR. The shotty and AR were department issued and those lights/forends were installed and required.

In my war bag I carried a small waterproof pelican case with about a dozen Ni-Mh rechargeable AA batteries, some rechargeable AAA batteries, spare C cell rechargeable batteries, a USB charger, and a few 18650 cells.

With that being said, I've gone through dozens of lights over the years and have finely tuned each and every piece of gear I carried for what specific task I was doing.

 

[jz6342]

So Cal...

Carried a Fenix PD36 on a belt holster. I liked the recharging capability via USB-C. Made it quick and easy to recharge from inside the car while running from call to call. Not having to remove the battery to recharge was huge. This was my go to light for years and it held up. I used it as my primary light. Kept a small USB battery pack in my vest with a USB-C cable to recharge...just in case.

Fenix TK 16 carried in a pouch on my outer vest. I liked the brightness it afforded but I did not like having to remove the battery to recharge. When doing a yard search, perimeter, large properties, etc. when its pitch dark at 0200, the combo of brightness and run time was exceptional. I used it as my backup light or if/when I needed more brightness or battery ran low on the PD36.

Maglite ML50L carried in a sap pocket or in my door handle. Although not the brightest light and certainly not the smallest, what it lacked for in brightness it made up for in throw and run time. When running a dog through several properties or doing a search for hours on end, runtime was king. If I knew I was going to be out of my unit for an extended period, I made sure to grab the Mag. Ran rechargeable NiMh C cells.

Fenix LD15R on my vest. Having a compact yet adjustable brightness light facing outward was handy for taking notes, FI's, searching, etc. Some tasks require two hands and although holding a light in your mouth was mentioned in a previous post, have you ever been searching someone and had them evacuate explosive diarrhea all over the place? NOTHING on my person or any of my gear is going anywhere near my mouth thank you very much.

Fenix E01 on my keychain. Sometimes a quick light when using a cuff key or something similar is handy.

Ran Gen 5 Glock 17 MOS with a Streamlight TLR-1HL. Surefire DSF-870 forend on the Rem 870. Old school Surefire M500AB-RD on the AR. The shotty and AR were department issued and those lights/forends were installed and required.

In my war bag I carried a small waterproof pelican case with about a dozen Ni-Mh rechargeable AA batteries, some rechargeable AAA batteries, spare C cell rechargeable batteries, a USB charger, and a few 18650 cells.

With that being said, I've gone through dozens of lights over the years and have finely tuned each and every piece of gear I carried for what specific task I was doing.

Not sure where you're at in So Cal, but did y'all have any experience with the LAPD Pelican light? I bought one back in 2010 and was severely underwhelmed with the output. It wasn't bad, but it could have been so much better. I don't think they're still using it.

 

[Fugs]

Not sure where you're at in So Cal, but did y'all have any experience with the LAPD Pelican light? I bought one back in 2010 and was severely underwhelmed with the output. It wasn't bad, but it could have been so much better. I don't think they're still using it.

Yes…I was working up in LA county at the time for a smaller local agency. They had a tendency to wait and see what LAPD did and copy that. We did carry something similar to the pelican 7060s for a while. They were still pelicans, not rechargeable and used 3 C cells. Absolute garbage. We also had smaller 2 cell AA pelicans for a while. If this tells you anything, the 3c cell pelicans we started with in 2011 were incandescent. By 2016 or so we started slowly getting the incandescent bulbs replaced with LEDs. Lotsa people think cops will have the latest and greatest but when annual budgets come into play, it's usually the cheapest option the department can buy in bulk.

In 2019 or 2020, a quote for Mag ML50s was approved. They had all kinds of requirements from minimum brightness, different modes, had to run on C or D cells (because that's what we bought in bulk), had to have momentary on switches if needed…options were limited and the rules were archaic. Considering I'm on CPF, I spent the money on my own lighting options and a few other guys did too. But I'd say 80% of the department carried whatever they were issued and nothing more. I can't tell you how many times I'd be searching a house or something and my partners department issued light would die and that was the only light they had on them.

For what it's worth, LAPD has gone toward smaller lights like the 7060 because a lot of guys were using large streamlight SL20s or equivalents as improvised weapons during fights. They had one too many bad guys get lumped in the melon by large, heavy metal lights causing some issues. Policy has long since been changed and with an agency that large, all they really care about is not generating more lawsuits. They couldn't care less whether the light they issue actually works or not.

 

[ghostguy6]

Not sure where you're at in So Cal, but did y'all have any experience with the LAPD Pelican light? I bought one back in 2010 and was severely underwhelmed with the output. It wasn't bad, but it could have been so much better. I don't think they're still using it.

The security company I worked with bought several of them. Each employee was gifted one and each vehicle was equipped with them. I think we had the first generation of them. 130 lumen for 90 minutes. They generally didn't last through a night shift if you had lots of outside patrolling to do. The charge time was long so you always had to carry a back up light anyways. The switches wore out fast. The cell would deteriorate quickly if left on the charger. Most of the vehicle mounted lights didn't make it past 2 years of service. I never bothered to replace mine what it finally crapped out.

At the time it was a step up in brightness and it was nice to have less weight on a duty belt. I still have contact with some of my old team and none of them have an operational one that I know if.

I see there have been several improvements made to that light to increase brightness and runtime but it seems like the 7060 has been completely discontinued so I guess they did not keep up with technological advances.

 

[Monocrom]

You were fortunate. I've worked for a couple of the biggest Security companies in America for nearly two decades. We got issued radios, for when we were on shift. And God help you if the guys on the previous shift were idiots who had no clue how to properly put a radio on a charger; and NEVER bothered to learn how! (I'm serious, I encounter that BS to this day at my current client's site.) But flashlights? Current site had an incandescent dark green bodied, sickly yellow output floating lantern that looked as though someone dug it up from a shallow grave! I tossed it into the garbage soon after I started working there.

No worries, replaced it with a yellow bodied Eveready LED floating lantern with some actual good output. Wrote "Security" on the side of it so Maintenance wouldn't borrow it. Still there all these years later, still going strong. None of my co-workers have lights. At the last client's site (Marymount Manhattan college which was disgustingly mismanaged), the ones who did have lights carried the equivalent of Ray-O-Vac single-AAA penlights. Pathetic! Some of those guys were in-house Security, and made more money than the average NYPD officer. One of them was a lecherous S.O.B. who looked like Santa Claus. Advised I should get a light just like his penlight model. Ridiculous thing couldn't even reach the stage from the Auditorium balcony. (Did I mention there was a Home Depot not too far away from the dorms, with a very good selection of lights at that time?) yup, he was in-house.

One time, I had a security supervisor who carried an inca. 2AA Mini-Mag, and she advised I should get one too. This was just before Maglite introduced the new LED version. So, a good suggestion at the time. Carol was kind-hearted, very understanding, and no pun intended not too bright. But smart enough to get a real flashlight for work. Would have loved it if we had something like a Pelican 7060 model issued to us. By comparison to what everyone had whom I worked with, it would have seemed like everyone was issued their own private Sun.

 

[ghostguy6]

I got lucky, the company was new and was mostly comprised of ex military. We specialized in the higher risk ( higher paid) contracts that most other companies would turn down. This meant we had a rather large budget and admin staff that knew we needed quality gear. Everyone that worked there knew the need for quality gear. Since we also did disaster readiness we bought lots of stuff from pelican so we got contractor pricing.

At one company I worked for long ago and very briefly, I think I was the only one that actually carried a light on my belt. It was quite scary actually.

 

[Monocrom]

Sorry to hear that last part. Hell of a thing when you realize you're the only Pro on a team of uncaring, ill-prepared amateurs. I know what that's like.

 

[jz6342]

The security company I worked with bought several of them. Each employee was gifted one and each vehicle was equipped with them. I think we had the first generation of them. 130 lumen for 90 minutes. They generally didn't last through a night shift if you had lots of outside patrolling to do. The charge time was long so you always had to carry a back up light anyways. The switches wore out fast. The cell would deteriorate quickly if left on the charger. Most of the vehicle mounted lights didn't make it past 2 years of service. I never bothered to replace mine what it finally crapped out.

At the time it was a step up in brightness and it was nice to have less weight on a duty belt. I still have contact with some of my old team and none of them have an operational one that I know if.

I see there have been several improvements made to that light to increase brightness and runtime but it seems like the 7060 has been completely discontinued so I guess they did not keep up with technological advances.

Thank for the info! I haven't seen one in use for a hot minute. I have the first generation and it's held up well, but I'm not using it daily or for extended periods of time. Not keeping up with technology seems to be a thing; both Mag and Pelican were late to the game, came up with some innovative stuff, then let it die in the crib...

 

[jz6342]

You were fortunate. I've worked for a couple of the biggest Security companies in America for nearly two decades. We got issued radios, for when we were on shift. And God help you if the guys on the previous shift were idiots who had no clue how to properly put a radio on a charger; and NEVER bothered to learn how! (I'm serious, I encounter that BS to this day at my current client's site.) But flashlights? Current site had an incandescent dark green bodied, sickly yellow output floating lantern that looked as though someone dug it up from a shallow grave! I tossed it into the garbage soon after I started working there.

No worries, replaced it with a yellow bodied Eveready LED floating lantern with some actual good output. Wrote "Security" on the side of it so Maintenance wouldn't borrow it. Still there all these years later, still going strong. None of my co-workers have lights. At the last client's site (Marymount Manhattan college which was disgustingly mismanaged), the ones who did have lights carried the equivalent of Ray-O-Vac single-AAA penlights. Pathetic! Some of those guys were in-house Security, and made more money than the average NYPD officer. One of them was a lecherous S.O.B. who looked like Santa Claus. Advised I should get a light just like his penlight model. Ridiculous thing couldn't even reach the stage from the Auditorium balcony. (Did I mention there was a Home Depot not too far away from the dorms, with a very good selection of lights at that time?) yup, he was in-house.

One time, I had a security supervisor who carried an inca. 2AA Mini-Mag, and she advised I should get one too. This was just before Maglite introduced the new LED version. So, a good suggestion at the time. Carol was kind-hearted, very understanding, and no pun intended not too bright. But smart enough to get a real flashlight for work. Would have loved it if we had something like a Pelican 7060 model issued to us. By comparison to what everyone had whom I worked with, it would have seemed like everyone was issued their own private Sun.

I managed the patrol division of a larger company in WA and we spent a ton of money upgrading equipment (because the owner was a severe tightwad). The first thing we did was got decent flashlights for the vehicles. We gat a great deal on a bunch of Streamlight SL20 plastic lights and mounted one in each car. They got bruised and battered, but they always worked. It's amazing how little things can boost morale, then that boosts productivity, which boosts customer satisfaction, which boosts sales. In the four years the management team I got to be a part of was there we went from 50 accounts to over 200 and were able to increase profitability to almost 5X what it was. Just by taking care of people and reinvesting some cash into easy things; vehicle maintenance and upgrades, uniforms and equipment and training - LOTS of training. Alas, the owner had what we liked to call "Success Deficit Syndrome" and fired us. Within two years he squandered all we had accomplished and sold what was left. Sad.

 

[ghostguy6]

Same think happened to the company I worked for. We worked hard, became the best company around then the owner decided to sell out. At the height of business we had applicants from all over the US, Europe and even Australia. Police officers were leaving their detachments because we were better organized. We had a waiting list for our services because we only hired the most qualified. Now I see the guards from the company that the owner sold out too and I wouldn't trust them walk my dog let alone secure anything. Its sad what the world has become.

 

[Monocrom]

Let's face it, at some client's sites, you're just a legal requirement so that the insurance company WILL pay out in case the owner ends up filing a claim. "Hey! I hired security, and they were there at the site when this happened. Give me money!"

 

[Lawman VII XIV]

Long before I retired and to this day my department deemed flashlights as safety equipment and had to provide them. There was and is a uniform allowance with some allowed discretionary spending. 2xD Kev-Lites were issued with many cops then buying 5xC Keys.

Eventually that gave way to early Stream lights being the only authorized light to carry. They were stored in charging racks and you grabbed one along with a radio before going into service. Many like myself bought our own SL lights and spare batteries for dependability. You can't count on someone taking good care of their gear if it isn't assigned to them.

I don't know what they issue today, but no doubt they're some form of rechargeable LED flavor. Some guys carry a second smaller light for "casual" use and use with a weapon (two hand X hold). Lights on weapons aren't authorized.

 

[Lawman VII XIV]

Depending on how compact the light is, toss it in the mouth.
Though not ideal under some circumstances.

Not ideal under any circumstances. Useful in rare circumstances maybe. As most ticket writing is still done by my old dept.'s traffic unit, I still see guys with their flashlight tucked under their non-dominate arm. That always worked for me and others when taking notes and not writing a tag.

 

[slickrick]

Whatever they can afford!