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.

****, 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.

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.