Need light for police work...

A friend of mine has applied to the police academy. If he gets in, I plan to buy him a light. My budget is up to $150 or so. I've read a lot of reviews on this forum and others and have only gotten myself confused. I'm sure there are lots of LEOs on this site. Can you please give me some advice?

Some of the random thoughts running through my head are:

1) LED vs bulb - LED manufacturers make it sound like a strong sneeze will break a bulb, but I've heard bulbs in a quality flashlight like a Surefire will stand up to abuse just fine. I have a Surefire 6P and an Inova X5MT. The 6P is brighter, but the Inova feels more solid in my hand. That makes me lean towards an LED.

2) Bright light and simple to operate. I personally don't care for the strobe, auto morse-code, multiple color, universal translator, and built-in espresso maker that I see advertised on some lights.

3) Prefer rechargable, but not absolutely necessary with $1 CR123 batteries available.

So far the I am looking at:

Surefire 8ax Commander and C3 Centurion
Inova T4 rechargable

Any other suggestions? What criteria do LEOs look for in a duty light?

Thanks,

Joe

The Streamlight Stinger in all of it's variations is a big favorite in this area, followed by the Streamlight Strion, and then the 2xCR123 lights from Streamlight or Surefire. Some departments have even adopted the Stinger as an issued light.

jggonzalez said:

Any other suggestions? What criteria do LEOs look for in a duty light?

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It is not uncommon for PD's to dictate by policy limitations or types of equipment that can be carried on-duty; in some cases off-duty too.
First check and see what the department allows.
Second find out what is popular among local officers that do the same type of work.
Job description and type of duty and environment make a difference on what lights to carry. Believe me, listen to the senior experienced officers. I see a lot of: "If I were... and I think..." on this forum, all said with good intentions but in some cases those well meaning assumptions are not exactly on target. You gotta ask the officer who has experienced it. I work in the southwest. Uniform patrol of federal, state and local agencies often carry the magcharger vehicle mounted here. On the belt many of the Streamlights are carried, Stinger is very popular. Because I am a flashaholic many officers I know that belong to several different agencies are carrying the www.QualityChinaGoods.com 7 watt, what we call the Gloston, a very bright LED flashlight, on rechargeable LIR123 batteries. Your options are almost limitless if you can get by the first requirement.

$150 is a generous amount for his gift. Check to see if lights are issued to him. I would strongy recommend he carry at least two lights, a large handheld and a smaller one for the belt. Examples of large lights be the Streamlight SL-20X or MagCharger. These can be left in the car and grabbed as needed. More importantly are the smaller belt mounted lights such as a Stinger, Strion, or Surefire 8NX. This would stay on his belt and be available at any time. The 2 or 3 cell CR123 lights are great as backup. The battery expense would be prohibitive if used on a daily basis. I recommend incandescent rechargables.

Northern Lights makes a good point. You can call and talk to other officer in his department and see what is generally used and accepted. In many west coast agencies around here Streamlight is widely used but not MagCharger. Some agencies prohibit metal body flashlights as well. You can get him all the same lights but in their plastic/nitrolin form.

Hello Joe and welcome at CPF

There are a lot of usefull lights for a policeman. Since the tasks for the light are not really specified, I would give him as a gift a HDS EDC42 for under 100$ and a charger with 2 RCR123 cells. All about 125$ and a great light for private too.

It will be usefull in every kind of policework, is small and for special tasks he can use a big handheld light from the department.

Best regards

____
Tom

In addition to what everyone else has posted, I'd suggest waiting until he graduates from the academy. At that point, he'll have a better idea of what he needs and what he can actually carry.

First thing I would do is check with someone already working for the department and find out if lights are issued. If not then find out if there are restrictions on what can be carried some departments have sixe restrictions or will not allow large metal lights . For example my department issued a crappy Mag 3D, so i bought another MAG 3D and now have a HAIII M*G 85, I also hava a couple of back up lights as well, SF 9N and extra batteries, 6V Falcata with rechargable CR123's, SL Strion and SL-20X/SL-20XP. Usually the 9N is on my belt and Strion or Falcata is in my pocket. M*G 85 and SL-20X or SL-20XP are in my gear bag.

i hear the LAPD just banned metal flashlights for new LEO's... All existing officers can keep their lights.....for now

The safest thing is to get him the Streamlight rechargable Strion. It's a small rechargeable that will act as a backup.

Let him chose his primary light if he has that option.

After checking with regulations:
Pila GL3 or SL Strion - both are small bright, and work off rechargeables. The Pila have the advantage of having the tailcap LED option for low light needs, and it also works fine with primary cells.

Either of the first two you've stated from SureFire over the Inova would be a sound choice. Also the Streamlights that have been recommended here are excellent ones to. How about the TigerLights?

Hope you find what you're looking for and Enjoy!

You've received some very salient advice from this group already, so instead of giving advice I'll tell you what I use and what other guys in my service use (in Canada most police "forces" are called "services" :shrug and hopefully that will help you go forward from here.

Usually I carry 3 lights on me, with 2 more in the duty bag in the cruiser, but I've since added another to my cache, and that is the HDS EDC B60LE on the belt.

I always ride with a partner and most of them don't even carry a light but depend on the service issued Streamlight Stinger XT that is supposed to be in every car (but I wouldn't bet on it, and even if it's there you have no idea how much charge it has left or if it will work out of the vehicle mounted charger).

Anyway, my primary duty light is a Streamlight SL-20X-LED and it has performed excellentlly for me in a variety of situations. I almost lost it once jumping over a ditch in a foot pursuit, but luckily it landed close to my hand on the bank and it's still with me (after being in the mud that time). On my belt, therefore ALWAYS with me, is a Streamlight Strion. Notice both primary lights are rechargeable, important to keep costs down in the long run. As a backup on my belt I have a Pelican M6 LED. Should I find myself in a situation where I burn through the batteries in the 20X-LED and the Strion I know I can depend on some long runtimes with the M6LED and it's got some good throw as well. Now, I mentioned I'm always with a partner and usually I end up lending a light to them sometime during the shift, so I've added an HDS EDC B60LE on my belt (again, always with me). Should we have to jump out of the car rapidly I know that between the two of us we'll at least have 3 lights, one each and a backup.

In the duty bag I've put my own Streamlight Stinger XT. If I need it, it's there and I can always use the vehicle mounted charger, if needed.

So as you can see, what you are using it for, what else is available, and what type of duties are anticipated to be encountered (throw in there unexpected situations) and you really have to be prepared for everything out on the road.

Last night I tried an experiment. I took my modified MagCharger out on duty. Typically I don't like taking modified lights on duty, just because I don't have 100% trust in a modified light like I do in a factory light. Using the MagCharger with the WA1160 bulb, upgraded MOP reflector, and a new battery, it worked out great. At one traffic stop last night my partner was using the service issued Stinger XT from the cruiser, and I lit up the interior of the vehicle with the Mag Charger. HE turned around and said, WOW that's a bright flashlight. The Stinger beam was lost in the car. I used the MAgCharger all night, on RIDE (impaired driver spot checks) and it performed beautifully. Who knows maybe I'll get used to taking a modified light out on duty.

Good luck and your friend is lucky to have someone who will buy him a $150 light.

Manzerick said:

i hear the LAPD just banned metal flashlights for new LEO's... All existing officers can keep their lights.....for now

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I take it they've banned their officers from carrying firearms too. :laughing:

It never ceases to amase me how they come up with these strange ideas in the name of safety / human rights.

If officers are trained in appropriate use of force, can carry a firearm and nightstick - why should a maglite be banned just because it 'could' be used as a weapon.

Tim.

Timson said:

I take it they've banned their officers from carrying firearms too. :laughing:

It never ceases to amase me how they come up with these strange ideas in the name of safety / human rights.

If officers are trained in appropriate use of force, can carry a firearm and nightstick - why should a maglite be banned just because it 'could' be used as a weapon.

Tim.

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one of these days someone will come up with a Plastic .45 that has no sharp edges:laughing:

Illum_the_nation said:

one of these days someone will come up with a Plastic .45 that has no sharp edges:laughing:

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I laugh!!

Illum_the_nation said:

one of these days someone will come up with a Plastic .45 that has no sharp edges:laughing:

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They have. It's called a Glock and a wholelotta departments are carrying them.

Many departments banned the "large flashlights" because people were getting hit with them...Duh?! Then some perps decided to sue and got the lawyers involved. At which point, the almighty and infallible (gag choke sputter) judges decided that since the flashlight was not designed to be an impact tool, it should therefore not be used as one, as obviously we could not control the amount of force/exertion when wielding the mighty mag.:rock: So then we got the good ol' expandable baton. We were trained to use it in percentages, such as a 60% of a full force strike. Then once again the lawyers got involved after a lady took some 30+ wacks at about 40% power (she wouldn't have taken a single one had she actually been compliant, but the court doesn't care about that), so now all strikes with an expandable baton must be full-force strikes (at least in my department). I'm not sure, but with the flashlight, I kind of think anyone could do a full-force strike, so it being not controllable now would not be an issue, other than the fact that you and your department can get sued by someone on the street jacked up on meth/crack/alcohol/etc.
Remember, mileage may vary from one department and state to another.
(an aside, it wasn't me hitting the lady thirty + times. This is just how it was explained to me).

First off, no, I do NOT know Blazer ("Whew" says Blazer, now being able to go out in public again with his head held high!), but I am also a Canadian Peace Officer employed as a Constable with a semi-known Police Service (can't tell or I'd have to, well, you know...!). Anyways, I carry:
- Pila GL3: with the white/blue LED tail-cap or a Wolf-Eyes true clicky tactical tail-cap switch, running on 3 RCR123A 3.0 v protected regulated li-ion cells or 2 x 18500 protected unregulated li-ion cells;
- LED Logic Striker VG: running on 2 RCR123A 3.0 v protected regulated li-ion cells.
and both will be always-on-the-duty-belt, but have been loaned out while I was on leave.

I also have:
- 2 x Mag 3 C: one with a Diamond-LED 3 watt, and the other with a D-L 6.75 watt, LED modules;
- Mag 2 C: with borofloat lens and fivemega heavy stipple finished cammless aluminum reflector, running on either 3 RCR123A 3.0 protected and regulated, or 3.6 protected and unregulated, or 2 x 18500 li-ion cells, to drive a variety of interchangeble incandescent bulbs (KPR118, KPR120, KPR144 or ROP (pending));
- 3 Dorcy 9" LED traffic wands;
- 1 MXDL 3 AAA 3 watt;
- 1 no-name 1 million candlepower rechargeable search light;
which are my back-ups, carried in a no-name plastic tool box.

I really liked the Tigerlight FBOP I played with recently, as well as the Gladius I tested some time ago (and cosmetically damaged, though slightly!).

I would highly recommend:
- for large rechargeable incandescent: the TL FBOP;
- for always-on-the-duty-belt incandescent: the GL3 or 4;
- for a-o-t-d-b LED: the VG (limited budget) or Gladius (more money);
- for traffic control: the Dorcy wands;
- for power sources for the Pila, VG or Gladius: RCR123A 3.0 volt protected regulated lithium-ion cells, and a compatible charger with both AC & DC cords;
due to my 30+ years of dark-hours of uniformed general duty policing experience, but only last 3 years of "enlightenment".

PeteBroccolo said:

First off, no, I do NOT know Blazer ("Whew" says Blazer, now being able to go out in public again with his head held high!), but I am also a Canadian Peace Officer employed as a Constable with a semi-known Police Service (can't tell or I'd have to, well, you know...!)

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But I know you....and who you work for.:nana:

Actually you and I participate in another online forum (but I use a different username) so you probably know me more than you think. I'll PM you to kill the suspense.

You work for the same company as Pete?
Some organizations down here South of the Border, often refer to it as "the business"

Blazer said:

Actually you and I participate in another online forum (but I use a different username) so you probably know me more than you think. I'll PM you to kill the suspense.

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