Police/Troopers sitting on median/shoulder at night with no lights on.
 

I take it that this varys from state to state? I thought they had to have something on at night. I have seen plenty with no lights on at all.

Some will sit in the dark and others will leave their lights on. The best thing to do is be careful and keep your speed down.

It's an urban legend that they have to have lights on.
Most cops that do that, are really just lonely, and want to meet more people. :lol:

In VA it's a state law that the police must have some light on if they are sitting in the dark. Many still don't follow that law but the one's that do are usually idiots to begin with. They sit with their front end facing oncoming traffic then leave their headlights on so they f-ing blind you. Parking lights guys, parking lights.

redacted - I woke up on the wrong side of the bunk.

Road, they are still trying to actually pass a law that says cops must stop at all stop signs or red stop lights unless they have their sirens AND lights going. It's due to a rash of crashes with officers responding to calls without anything on. We had one locally where they charged the driver of an ambulance after the cop ran into the side of the ambulance while responding to a call. The ambulance was on it's way to the hospital with a patient and had everything going, the cop had nothing going, he simply refused to yield to the ambulance and drove into the side of it flipping it over.

The cops locally here that I am buddies with said that yes, in VA all cops running speed traps facing into oncoming traffic must have some type of light on once it gets dark out or be sitting within either 100 or 200 feet of a light(can't remember the said distance). If they are sitting broadside then no, they do not need a light on, the reflective stickers on the car are your warning. It's not that they want to give speeders a chance to slow up, it for their own safety since they like to sit in crossover's. They try to sit in crossover's that are rarely used(except on the interstates which are not to be used by anyone other than law enforcement) but you never know when someone might want to hang a U-turn in a crossover that your sitting in. You see something with lights there and your either going to go on to the next one or be more careful turning there so you don't hit them.

I know about the responding to calls with lights, but no sirens. We live in MooseJaw, and use to do that mostly at night, unless we saw a need to make noise.

We've had some bad crashes locally as well. (the bigger cities near us)
Even my Fire Chief screwed up, and drove through our main intersection (without stopping) running 1033 on icy roads, and some kid couldn't stop, skidding into the backside of the Pumper. No injuries, but dag man... adrenaline can make you stupid. All first responders are suppose to stop at intersections, and in multiple lane intersections, "clear" each lane of cross traffic.
I had to re-certify every 3 years as an emergency vehicle operator.

They have the reflective sticker argument, plus they have the light source argument, too. Your headlights are suppose to illuminate 500 feet ahead of you.
The "fair notice" argument doesn't work either, because of posted speed limits.

When you see a blackout cruiser, ... yell out the window...
"You'll never take my donuts ALIVE!......Copper!!!" :moon: :lol:
If he doesn't follow you, he's probably getting some sleep.

We call those "dummy" cars. Ain't nobody in them but the dummy drivers out on the road's slow up anyways. The one's around here are easy to pick out, the cops are dummies for parking them where no cop in their right mind would dare sit, that and the cars are slightly different than all the others in the fleets. Actually, one of the dummy cars had it's wheels stolen twice before the cops caught on and put wheel locks on them. The crooks stole the light bar the next time.

The city police in the "town" of Millersville, TN, just north of Nashville, is the worst offender I have seen doing this. (yes, another case of city cops doing "traffic enforcement" on the interstate) Of course what happens out on I-65 has nothing to do with their nearby little town. They park in the median near MM 102 on I-65 with all lights off, just a few feet from the yellow line asking to be killed.

VA, OH and AZ I know for certin require to have headlights on at ALL TIMES..... IN, IL, AR, MO, TX do not have a law for this, tho I do know here in Porter Co, IN they require them to run marker lights when running radar........

Honestly, most states are at 65mph max speed, so if your worrying about the cops, then you deserve the ticket, cuz 65 is more than fast enough.

I could see a law requiring lights on, if they are parked in anyway, on the roadway, or somehow in direct line of view.
If they are off the roadway... what difference does it make?

They can park behind a billboard, in the weeds, or hide out of view any which way.... I've even seen cops standing on an overpass with a speedgun, and calling ahead to cruisers further up the road.

I am all for at least marking lights on... :thumbsup:
These blacked out units can sometimes spook the crap out of me, and make me slow down, even if I wasn't speeding. :mad:

****, in texas they park right on the shoulder, like a broken down car, and usually on the other side of a hill so u don't see them until you top the bridge. All black SUV's in the dark, on the white line will scare the sh*t out of you......

I am a Police segeant with 16 years experience in Va........I am not familiar with a code that requires us to be illuminated during Radar/traffic enforcement. In Va., lights(headlights) will be illuminated between dusk and dawn and during times when windshield wipers are in operation when a vehicle is being operated on a public roadway. No codebook next to me.......so please don't ask for the code #.

As a Sgt., I have several officers under me and I take their driving skills/abilities/code-policy requirements very seriously. Just suspended one for blowing through a red light with "no due regard for public safety"

In Va., emergency vehicles must have lights/sirens on to operate as such. I would ask for some respect here from professional drivers. I run down the interstate with flashing lights only......sirens when traffic dictates. In town it is a different story. As a note, most firefighters in Va are volunteer, they are allowed one warning(emergency) light and no siren. This allows them "nothing" other than requesting the right of way....please give them some space when you see em coming up in your rear-views......might be your house they are trying to save.

On I-75 in Georgia... I think they are getting way too aggressive. :p

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...10/trouble.jpg

Well snoopy here's another little known fact about the cops in VA and I do have personal experience with this one:

In VA, locals(county) and town/city cops are required to re-shoot or pace the offending vehicle that is speeding if you lose sight of it and it must still be speeding in order to legally stop it for speeding. Only state police can stop it without re-shooting or pacing it. The reason I know this, state trooper eventually stopped my brother for speeding, about 8 miles down the road(we were well out of sight but with no side roads we couldn't exactly disappear.) In court a county cop who is a friend/neighbor tried to help my brother on the fact that we were well out of sight and the state boy said that he never re-shot us. Judge informed him that unfortunately the state boys don't have to follow the same rule of re-shooting the vehicle as the rest of the police do in the state of VA.

Asked my one bud about the light thing again today, he re-iterated that yeah, it's true that they have to have some sort of light on when running radar in the median in VA and it's for ALL police unlike the one above where there are separate standards for each level of law enforcement. He said that unless there is a light source within 100 feet, once it goes dark a light has to be on and it's for safety.

yeah, when i said "AT ALL TIMES" I ment at night, or dusk till dawn....... I was a Indiana MCI officer for 2yrs before hoping in a truck myself. Here in Indiana they can sit in the dark w/o any lights. Sneeky boogers LOL

I hate to disagree with you Mr.Ford but I must. With the exception of a few jurisdictional things, all certified police officers have the same powers in the Commonwealth of Virginia....ie a State Trooper can't enforce a "city/county code" unless the "city code" specifically says so. As a city cop, I have all the powers that a Trooper does. They may be more knowledgeable in traffic related things.....but have no more authority than I. In fact, I helped a trooper the other night.....had a "mental" guy trying to harm himself on the interstate.......my guys took it over and I suggested to the trooper that he come along for a learning experience. He did and learned a little bit more about his job, more about what his academy didn't teach him and more about what city/county cops do. It's all the same.....just different at times.

Never heard of the re-shooting thing either for Radar.......after eight miles (being out of sight) seems a bit of distance to get pulled over for a speeding violation. In a case like this, my concern wouldn't be re-shooting......but being able to identify who was driving the vehicle when they first passed through radar.....not if they were still speeding later. Eight miles and out of sight would give ample time to switch driver/passengers.

As a funny note to this.....true story. I had a car come through Radar one early Saturday morning at 105 in a 55 zone.......I caught him from a dead stop in approx. one and 1/2 miles. Interestingly enough....this guy was a truck driver trying out his new Mustang.............given the circumstances, CDL, early morning, road conditions and no traffic, I cut him a huge break...didn't write for reckless driving.....merely a summons for speeding at 85 mph. I did chuckle while issuing the summons....and mentioned that he might want to pre-pay the fine.......for the one vehicle that he did pass (I did also in catching him) was the traffic court judge that would hear his case.

Not to mention you might get pulled over by Sheriff Buford T. Justice and Junior!!

Back when I was 18 I bought a brand new GSXR-1000 rocket and decided me and a buddy needed to go blast down I-94 at 155+mph. Well after I cleared the 5mm in MI we blew by a state trooper in the middle and I saw he come out with his 1 big red light going. I slowed down and stopped on the sholder. As he came over the hill he drove right past us and then slowed down, turned around and came back. We were like WTF??? As he got out of his car he had a smile and walked up and said "I can't believe you two stopped for me."
He then told us that if we had kept on it, there was no way he could have caught up and didn't expect to see us waiting for him hence why he drove by. After we laughed it off, he checked the bikes reg and my id and told us to slow it down and to have a good night.

My father and I are the rebels in my family.... we drive trucks, the others are all in Law Enforcement including my uncle who is a US Marshall and my grandmother was a Homicide Detective in Los Angles back when Manson was arrested.

Well, that was what the judge said also, he thought it was stupid himself because who's to say it's the same vehicle or driver but it was what it was. The county cop was hot as heck over it that he had to re-shoot the offending vehicle. Same thing happened 2 years ago in King George Co, cop swung around to go after my brother who was following a buddy. Brother pulled off, cop blew past him going after the buddy who kept going. 5 miles down the road he comes upon both stopped, the cop stops him also and proceeds to write him for speeding as well. Well, brother deserved that one for not turning tail and going the other way in the first place once the cop passed him. Got to court and he told the judge all that. Judge tossed it out under the same law/rule, county cop did not re-shoot him after losing sight, in fact he never re-shot either of them so both were tossed out. If it's not true then why are 2 different locales 50 miles apart ruling the same way? Same with the light deal at night, get a lawyer and that's the first thing they go after. If your in a city then you obviously don't have to worry about it, didn't you say you were Va Beach area. All those lights you don't have to ever worry about being illuminated at night, your always within the 200 feet of a light source. OR, the locale next door to me that likes to sit on Federal Land and run radar, can't do it unless they are within the VDOT right of way markers sitting. 1 road in particular, they used to like sitting on but they can't because the road isn't VDOT, it's the Feds and the Feds never gave them the ok. Only a Park Ranger can give you a ticket there.

Still looking for a code that requires us to have lights on (or be illuminated).........I totally agree with not being able to enforce on private roads or on Federal Property........however, I can sit pretty much where ever I want (if property owner doesnt object) and run Radar on all public roads.......ie I can use a parking lot for a shopping center to sit in and shoot radar down the road in front it.

I'd like to see that law (if it exists), too. Granted, I don't think I've seen any VA cop (state, county, town, or city) that was running radar with any lights on while stationary. I see cops sitting in shopping center parking lots with their running lights on every once in a while, but I never see them doing that out on the highway.

So clarify for me Snoopy., in VA where you are a SGT.... if you park your cruiser in the median at say midnight, dont you have to have your marker lights on for saftey. Obviously during the day you wouldn't, but I'm saying at night-time. Here in Indiana and Illinois they can sit in the pitch black and not have a single bulb on... and Texas does whatever they want to and it's going to take someone hitting them at 65mph for them to at least not park on the shoulders. Sad but true

I am not familiar with a code that requires that, I was not trained at Radar school for that and I have never had a lawyer or judge even ask about it. If it is required....a lawyer will certainly ask in an effort to get his client out of a speeding ticket. I am aware that some states do require this.......and other jurisdictions in Virginia may require it of their officers.....but that would be a department policy thing. For some interesting reading.......here is a link to the traffic codes/motor vehicle codes in the Commonwealth LIS > Code of Virginia This does not include the DUI codes which fall under the criminal act section.

Thank you for the input. I don't ever go to VA, in fact, I only travel thru 6 states now. But it's always good for future reference

In Oklahoma there are no laws requiring illumination at night. Of course no one is supposed to be driving on the medians here either though !

At least they stay in their cars,

In Toronto, the guys using radar, is out of his car, hiding, then when he nails someone, he goes out into the street, points at the car, and they pull over,

First time I saw that I laughed my head off because I didn't know anyone at the time that would actually stop in a car, for an officer on foot.

First time it happened to me, I realize why they stop lol, got a backup car just down the road.

Of course as a fellow Oklahoman, you know as well as I do, they hang out in the medians cause they are smoother than the roads!:rofl:
I run mostly in Oklahoma with forays into Kansas when available. Most of the time the guys around here have a little red light on in the cab when parked doing radar work. Ever since the state lifted the 100 miles per day limit on OHP they don't stay parked long.