If it is I am more than willing to retract my thread. I am just curious what you guys think about police being able to shine their lights in your eyes. I think it could be considered assault if a civilian did it. Also if any civilian did the same to an officer there would be unjust consequences. I know I have been blinded by many officers and I have always found it quite annoying. Anyone else have a say? Supporting or not.
I wonder what brightness level would be considered nonoffensive shown in a person's face ?
Few weeks ago on a festival I went for a piss in the woods, suddenly I saw someone shining with a bright flashlight in my eyes, but I thought: hey another flashlight enthusiast! So I shined back (with my light which totally blew that persons light away) and suddenly i heared 'calm down calm down', i said 'I am calm...' and then it appeared to be a cop with a dog which found it funny to keep shining light in my eyes so I start laughing that his light was dimmer than mine. Luckily for me I was with a large group of people so the cop backed off :), as cops tend to be very 'serious'.
Few days later I started to ask my self: what if the dog/cop would have attacked me for shining light at them. It was pitch dark so couldn't know who was shining at me, so i think i have the right to use my light to see it :). Lasers are illegal to shine at people but i don't know anything about bright flashlights.
an incan mag light in the dark ( eyes dilated ) hurts, let alone anything modern
i what i have seen is they are very carful not to shine in your eyes directly BUT whose to says when long term damage kicks in ??
should ask the local PD what their policy is
my fear is someone is blinded turns away an its taken as a aggressive action , then some rookie's training kicks in ...
the cop is shopping for a new FL i am sure : )
In my country police officers uses outdated mag beater sticks. Hardly worth mentioning the actual output. Annoying yes, eye damage not in a million years. Even my EDC is brighter than that (spot intensity).
LOL! You had every right to shine your light back at him especially since he did it without announcing himself and I can’t fathom any court not agreeing with you. Funny that your light was brighter…he probably had some weak-ass Surefire “POS”. LOL!
In general I understand why the police think they should be able to shine their lights in your eyes as it instantly disorients the subject and could save their life if it was an aggressor. That said though, most of their stops are routine against non-aggressive folk, and I feel that it is a form of assault especially if the light is extremely bright.
Maybe their should be a limit to the amount of lumens a light can be if shined in someone's eyes but this opens a whole new can of worms. Imagine accidentally shining your light at someone and they claim you assaulted them and call the popo or take you to civil court. That's a can of worms I'd rather leave closed.
It was probably like this i can immagine:
I got a flashlight!
What? THIS is a flashlight.
I use that often. That's not a knoif. This is a knoif.
I try to never get in a situation where a policeman has to shine his flashlight into my eyes.
Very easy to avoid actualy: Behave!
If they want to pull you over they will. It's fact that they can follow anyone for long enough and see them doing something illegal
Technically speaking i was doing something illegal, but they should better take care of the 16-year olds throwing their trash around, the agressive people running around drunk... I do not disrespect authority at all in the contrary but police should know their priorities.
When i see a cop now, I always want to go ask him how bright his one's is :d.
Just don't give them a reason to be stupid and you should be fine, but if they don't identify themselves and shine me they will get a blinding 3XML blast to the retinas.
Will you get beaten if use sunglasses in this case?
KD C8 in ya face or even better DRY turbo in ya face!
I don't think cops get training in: how to react on a flashlight that makes your own look like a lil wimp.
Thats typical cop behavior for you...these guys are bullies, yes they will shine the light right in your eyes, and harass you for this or that or whatever.
@ scheven - Youre lucky the cop just told you "calm down" instead of roughing you up and charging you w/ assault or something.
Shining a flashlight in a cops eyes is very dangerous business. Put yourself in his position. He can't tell if you are armed, how many of you there are, etc. If I was the cop, I'd be calling for backup post haste, if someone in a dark situation had a couple hundred lumens in my face.
If a cop doesn't identify himself as a cop I just act as if it was a regular person...
I have a close friend who is a police officer, and I ride with him on patrol occassionally. His duty light is an old incan Streamlight. My WF-501b is brighter than his light. Whenever I ride with him, I carry my TR-1200 and am always looking for an excuse to shine it around... Like one night, we were looking for a vagrant who was hiding out in an abandoned home in the woods; I was able shine my light out the window while we drove down the country road looking for the place. His truck doesn't have a spotlight and having a super-bright flashlight was handy. Later, while he was gassing the truck up at the county barn, I was spotlighting the water tower a half-mile away... 
Fortunately in this country a cop would never do that, as he would find himself
in a dire situation exposed in tomorrows papers, maybe even in court charged
with misuse of his job. But I dont think one can compare your country with mine.
Here the whole policeforce maybe draw their weapon five times a year!!