I live in a small town, but when I do a build, I usually step out the side door and aim it at a denuded birch, about 350 feet down the block. From the side door, I shine in up the tree at about 25 Edit 11 degrees angle. After doing it many times (I live on Main Street) I can roughly judge the relative power, as I have many torches of different output. This evening, I did a build, a XM-L U2 1A, (Illumination Supply) with the 3.04 amp driver, in a C8 host, on a brass pill. Anyways, it turned out quite nicely, does get warm fairly quickly — to the point, I was on the side house step, when I noticed a car down the side street, it quickly veared an sped up to the corner stop sign. I sensed that it may be a police car, so I just stepped back into the house. The car sat some time at the intersection, then slowly proceeded toward my house, and slowed nearly to a stop in the street outside my side entrance. I peered out the door window, and the police car slowly, very slowly continued on down the street. I was on my property, and did go back into my house, but I am sure, that if I were to have been outside, they would have questioned me. Now, in this day and age of institutionalized paranoia, if one is in danger, for just experimenting with torches—what is your take on this issue, it may become a problem in the near future…
I have been harassed by them a lot in the past, nothing to do with flashlights though.
I don’t think you would be in any trouble, at most they might ask you to stop doing it if neighbours have complaining about people shining lights in their windows or because of traffic etc.
My take on this “issue” is that it would have been a good idea to go outside and talk to those guys!
I’m sure you’d find that you had a few things in common, flashlight performance being one of them. Flashing a powerful light around always attracts attention, so it doesn’t hurt to be open about it - these guys are there for your protection as well as everybody else’s, don’t forget.
Cheers
I wonder too what would happen, i wouldn’t want to happen upon a jerk officer who may give you a warning or veiled threat, i’d rather a friendly officer who is just curious and asks a few questions, but its not like we can choose which we would get.
:bigsmile:
I’m starting to wonder about this guy…
Wow, I didn’t realise the US was a police state - are you guys really this scared of the cops?
Some people are, although it can be confused or mixed with antagonism. I think it depends a lot on attitude. My last experience was with a group. One of the guys was getting yelled at by one of the cops. The other cop was answering my question by telling me a few places to grab a bite to eat at that time of night. I noticed the same thing much earlier when I was in the military. My squadron worked closely with military cops. Occasionally we'd get detained. Everytime I was detained, I was treated as gently and kindly as possible, sometimes while watching a co-worker get put on the ground in cuffs.
“Wow, I didn’t realise the US was a police state - are you guys really this scared of the cops?”
Unfortunately, we do not have a polite and friendly police force like you will find in the UK and other nations. In America, most of our cops are more aggressive, ruder and less patient than in the UK.
I have a friend who is a cop and I once said to him that I felt like 50% of cops were bad cops and shouldn’t be doing that job. He said, he felt it was actually 80%!
Point is our cops are like sharks cruising for prey. They are not there to help, they are there to give you a ticket or arrest you. A lot of animosity has been built by the way Police have treated the average citizen.
I have not had a to of run ins with the law but without a doubt the vast majority of my experiences has been negative. I have received more than one bogus ticket, been harassed while not doing anything wrong, and seen abuse of power. I’ve seen cops do some good as well but the bad experiences stick out and make a deeper impression.
Attitude does make a big difference. I have people getting pressed to the wall and cuffed while they left me alone for doing the same thing because I wasn’t mouthy.
That’s not to say you should be too nice and compliant to the police. They don’t respect someone who they can order around. Be polite but stand your ground when you are right. Let them know you know the law and will sue prosecute them if they violate your rights. They respect people who can make trouble for them. They are used to dealing with poor, uneducated people who they can mentally own.
Cops live in a dog eat dog world. When dealing with them, you got to step into their world for a bit. It’s crazy that with so many lawsuits in this country, our cops get away with more than you think. They can mace or taser you with little reason and walk.
Nope. The police are nearly always using Stingers, and sometimes even old incan ones, and that makes for good discussion of whatever little performer I’m using. Never had a problem with that at all. Even the local police know I’m the “flashlight guy.” lol
Well, I think any good officer is going to be curious. I mean a huge light shooting 350 feet off into the darkness does call atteention to itself. I’d just walk out to them. Let em see the light & explain what your doing… Just because the light is getting their attention doesnt mean they are harassing you.
i think the cops were mesmerized by your light and want to find out where to get it… 
The Police have a difficult job and tend to suspicious by nature. If you were in constant contact with people that lie, steal and hurt other people your attitude would be adjusted.
I leave them alone unless they are doing something around my house. Living on a river there have been some lost and stranded folks we have rescued over the years. Often at night so I ‘need’ those powerful search flashlights.
One evening I head a commotion in the creek near our house. At that time ours was the only house in the area. It was before I discovered LED lights and I had a large Huskey 2.5 CP spotlight. It took about two minutes to reach full output but it was a very bright light until the unique battery died. So, it turns out it was the police looking for the owner of an abandoned car. As soon as one of them saw me on my drive way the officer shoots his light right into my eyes blinding me so I returned the favor. Once I saw his uniform I moved the light and he moved his away as well. Then he wanted to know about that really bright light I was using. 
BTW, the ‘abandoned’ car belonged to a bricklayer that had just left it when it broke down. It had been there for a week, I think they just wanted to go snipe hunting that night, the car was left in a popular make-out site. 8)
this happened to me! I usually get to work (i work in a downtown metro area) around 6am and its usually dark at that time ~6-7 months of the year… I was using an oveready 6p with a vinh 4.2amp xml in it and of course it was on high
cop in the street actually put his lights on and went around 2 cars and flew into the parking lot. he jumped out and said - what kind of flashlight is that sir!? its bright! so i showed it to him… of course he was familiar with the surefire 6p body - and then i explained i had a led drop in i purchased on line… he was very interested lol. had a nice conversation for about 10 minutes or so.
They will not “ask” you to stop…they will usually insist as if you must do whatever they say. They get loopy when they strap on that gun and badge.
i belong to a motorcycle association of combat vets and a fair number of them are retired mp’s and currently employed as police officers. just like any other organization the police have their fair share of bad apples but in general they are very professional and responsible in the way they do a sometimes thankless job. to paint the entire countries police force in any particualr way would be a gross generalization.
ken
Interesting, hopefully they were just curious folks bored during their shift and really wanted to check out that light :D!
Well, they will probably come for your help if the end of the world comes and they will need some lights :D!
Your average city/county police officer has the average IQ of a house plant. They compensate for their stupidity with aggression, Do some research into low intelligence jobs. No BS… The police force has some real humdingers. I try to be nice to them, it is a dangerous job. But if they start acting silly? I request the watch commander be brought on scene. The idea that I know abit of their command structre & am requesting their superior on scene will generally chill them right out.
Unfortunately, I live in a town of about 35k people where there’s not really much crime(It’s all just suburbs). So the police stop people for speeding usually, and they pull over young looking drivers just to check on them. Mind you, they won’t pull someone over if they are going 5 or 6 over. It has to be at least 10 miles over the limit! But because noboby gets pulled over or arrested for anything else here, they complain that the cops are money grubbing speed traps.
Around here, they also like to pull you over for speeding in a suburb. My brother actually got pulled over twice in a suburb for going 12 or 13 over 25 mph, in the first couple months of driving. Then another ticket for going 15 or something over. It has done him well though, he’s a great driver and hasn’t gotten a speeding ticket (he’s always pointing out cops wayyyy ahead with his better than 20/20 vision) in his 5 years of driving since then.