Funny Story Involving an ARC Flashlight

OK, this probably belongs in the Cafe forum, but since it involves an ARC flashlight, I will post it here.

Bet this never happened to any of you:

This afternoon, my neighbor across the street paid me a visit. He wanted to know if we were walking around our house last Friday night with "a bunch of flashlights". Seems at around 11:00 PM, he noticed a lot of flashlight activity moving around the house (alarming for him, but just another typical night for a flashaholic). He was concerned that some flashlight equipped burglars were hanging out at our house, helping themselves to our stuff. Of course there were no burglars, the light show he was seeing was just me walking around the house in the dark with my coveted SLS just moments before retiring to bed. I love my SLS so much that I pretty much look for any excuse to fire it up in the house at night even though in reality, my ARC AAA's would provide more than enough light for navigation! I own a lot of flashlights that I dearly love, but my ARC SLS is my favorite by a long shot.

My neighbor was so concerned about all the flashlight activity, that he called the police!!! He told me that the cops came by and knocked on our door! Apparently, the cops showed up after we were already asleep because we never heard a thing. When we did not answer the door, they left.

The fact that the police left without further investigation kind of leaves we with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it bugs me to think of the cops driving off while burglars ransacked my house. On the other hand, it would have been pretty scary if they had knocked our door down while we were sleeping away (I don't know if they do that kind of thing, I've probably been watching too much TV). At the very least, it would have been pretty embarrassing having to explain my flashlight exploits to the cops if I had awakened and answered the door!!!

This all came about because:
1. We live in a very tight knit neighborhood where everyone looks out for one another. (this is a good thing)
2. We own a contemporary house that has LOTS (around 50) of windows.
3. An ARC SLS creates quite a commotion when fired up and in the hands of a giddy flashaholic apparently gives bystanders the impression of multiple flashlights being paraded around inside a house.

So, I guess I am going to have to be more careful with my ARC SLS while walking around the house late at night!!!

My son, until recently when he went to work as a cop for the RR, was a member of HPD. I'll ask him what the general procedure is for this situation. I think if I were your neighbor, the 1st thing I would have done would be call your house on the phone before I called the police. TX

txwest,

I am very curious to see what you son says about this deal. I appreciate you checking into that.

Yes, I agree with you that the neighbor should have called us first. That is what I would have done. However, he is kind of new to the neighborhood and probably does not have the "official" list of all the residents on the street that we maintain and distribute. Since our number is unlisted, he had no way to get it that late at night.

The ironic thing about all this is that if there ever is a pack of burglars combing our house with flashlights ablaze, everyone in the neighborhood will probably say "don't worry, it's just that crazy guy playing with his lights again"

Yeah, I'm pretty well-known for that, too, and for using SureFires (8X, 6P, & 9Z), Streamlights (SL-20), and all kinds of LED flashlights (and flashing lights) while I walk my dog around at night.

Of course, if you really want to see the lights, just have one of my friends coming over after dark... I get out the emergency vehicle lights (in yellow, of course, since I'm not emergency services personnel), and plug one or more into a portable 12V power source.

Best reason I've heard for owning a dog.