Published on Thursday, October 6, 2005
in the Palm Beach Post

Being pulled over will really have you seeing red

Mixed and matched red and blue are the popular colors this fall for law enforcement rooflines.

Just a few weeks after the Florida Highway Patrol added red to troopers' rooftop lights, red is popping up on the light bars of Palm Beach County sheriff's cruisers.

Like the FHP, the sheriff's office says the switch will make the roadways safer. Red lights are more noticeable in daylight than blue, the FHP said.

Sheriff's Col. Bruce Frumoff says the sheriff's office has been considering adding red emergency lights for months because safety studies recommend a variety of colors and light intensity.

"We use a mixture of colors and technologies including strobes, LED, halogen and incandescent in combination with blue and red and amber and white," Frumoff said. "It's all for the safety of our officers and the public."

Sheriff's Lt. Tom Neighbors said drivers from northern states are more accustomed to seeing red lights flashing in their rear-view mirrors.

"They know red lights, but they don't have a clue about blue lights," Neighbors said. "Sometimes when I stopped them, they would say they didn't know who I was."

But the primary reason Sheriff Ric Bradshaw ordered the change is for the safety of deputies and motorists, Neighbors said.

All the sheriff's fleet is expected to have red lights within 30 days, he said.

The FHP is paying up to $2,100 per cruiser for new light bars equipped with light-emitting diodes. The sheriff is spending "nickels and dimes by comparison," Frumoff said.

"We are just changing the lenses, not replacing the light system," he said.

The president of the county's Association of Police Chiefs said he hasn't heard that other police departments are rushing to change the colors of their emergency lights.

"If there is more information out there on research, I'd like to know about it," said the president, Lantana Police Chief Rick Lincoln.