Just out of curiousity, why would a police car drive down a street with blue lights for no

[Baitball Blogger]

apparent reason?

I was behind two cars when I reached a busy intersection when the light turned red. The appropriate maneuver in Florida when that happens is to come to a full stop before turning right. Two cars were infront of me in the right lane and I assume they had done that when, suddenly, blue lights popped up across the intersection.

A police car which was on a forward moving lane, used his lights to move into the turn lane. I assumed that one of the two cars infront of me had done something wrong. But, then it got strange. After the police car turned onto the road, I followed behind him. I kept watching to see if he was chasing one of the two cars that were infront of me. It was hard to tell. He didn't really sustain pursuit speed, but, because everyone slowed down for him he was side by side with the two cars in no time.

He kept his lights on as they drove side by side, driving at speed limit. He didn't turn off his lights until he did a U turn. I'm not sure what he was aiming for, but he didn't seem to have a pleasant expression on his face when I saw him up close on his way back.

Anyone have any idea what that could have been all about?

[RoccoR5955]

1. Testing his equipment

Is what he will say.
He probably had a temporary 'roid rage, and had nobody to shoot at.
Either that, or it was getting close to his donut break, and there was no donut shop nearby, so he made a U turn, because he remembered that the donut shop was in the other direction.

[Lee-Lee]

2. He probably was looking for a specific vehicle

For a recent BOLO from a robbery, Amber alert, or similar.

Saw a vehicle that matched the description, used emergency lights to gain right of way in the intersection to not lose sight, caught up and got next to them to see the license plate, ran the plate and saw it wasn't the vehicle he was hunting and then turned around.

Might have forgotten to turn the lights off after using them to go through the intersection- I did thag a few times during the day, it's easy to not notice you left them on.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Thank you! That's helpful.

[KinMd]

3. Or he(or she) could have got dispatched to a call,

and by the time he got around the corner the call was disregarded

[Baitball Blogger]

5. That also makes sense.

[Recursion]

6. It keeps him from hitting stoplights

At least in DC the stoplight controllers respond to some signal embedded in fire/police/ems lights so that they always get green lights.

[Indydem]

7. Was it only blue lights?

That's not police.

[ScreamingMeemie]

9. Do you live up north?

Blue lights only are common down here. That IS police.

[Lurks Often]

22. There are regional and even state to state differences in emergency lights

For example, police in CT use red and bright blue lights, fire and ambulance use red, tow trucks use yellow and volunteer firefighters have blue flashing lights in their personal vehicles.

In NY, state police use the same yellow as CT tow trucks combined with white lights.

[dionysus]

27. our local pd in NY uses blue and red.. staties blue, with perhaps while as well... probably depends

on location....

[Lurks Often]

29. It's been a year or two since I last saw a NY State trooper on the highway

I don't drive crazy, but have to remind myself that not every police department uses the blue and red I am use to when I cross state lines.

[Sgent]

31. In the states I lived in

blue lights were for police action. Blue and red were used when it was a safety emergency (fire, ems, etc.)

[ScreamingMeemie]

8. My daughter lives in Historic Kissimmee and sees this all the time.

We saw it when we were visiting. I'm guessing the same as the other poster. Readying to respond.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. It was the first time that I've seen anything like that.

My first hunch was that he was expecting one of them to take off, which would have given him grounds to pursue and a reason to stop the person. But no one gave him grounds and there were plenty of us watching him to see what he would do.

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. It would helped if I mentioned she's two blocks

from the PD. Sorry about that. Pretty sure that's the reason she's would see it more.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. My thought as well.

Just trying to get the prey to run.

[Tsiyu]

13. Sometimes they put lights on as soon as they get a call

but don't necessarily do the siren action because it's not an urgent call and they don't want to flip out nearby drivers - it's just a way to get through traffic to get to the call quicker.

Maybe the u-turn was because he figured out a better way to get to the call.

Could be so many things....

[Baitball Blogger]

15. It could be so many things. That's true.

[ScreamingMeemie]

16. I forgot to mention that my daughter lives blocks from the PD.

So close that they gave her a warning a few weeks ago to change her plates from OH to FL since they were you know, living there for two years and all. He told her they had noticed it because they always drive past where she and her boyfriend park on the way to duty.

[Tsiyu]

17. State trooper lectured me for that

when I was borrowing my ex's truck. He tried to say I'd had it for many months and I just laughed at that. I knew it had only been a month.

Let go with no ticket and after being told, "Well we know you're not drunk because you never go to the bars."*

Okay.

Small towns....






*Which I did sometimes do, but playing with one band or another so i wasn't the one driving.

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. It's creepy sometimes.

I know she lives close but he said something like,"We see you and your boyfriend leaving all the time."

[Tsiyu]

21. Bored cops can become like Nosy Nellies

They are heavily invested in relaying the message that you ain't gettin' nothin' over on them. They are on top of your every move.

Cops with real jobs to do don't have time for that bullshit.

But in really small towns, cops can get very, very bored.

And their imaginations are often quite active.

Most around me aren't that way; this was a trooper who made the rounds.

[Lurks Often]

23. It's about recognizing patterns and routines

Since your daughter & boyfriend leave for their respective jobs at the same time every day, which happens to coincide with a shift change at the local PD, it's really not that surprising that they would notice.

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. That's not why I find it creepy.

I find it creepy that he would tell her what she is doing at any given time. Yes, creepy sort of. I am not making a case against a cop. Sheeesh.

[Gormy Cuss]

20. One typical reason for running with lights but no siren is a crime in progress

where the sounds of approaching sirens could escalate the situation, thus a "silent run."

[Tsiyu]

24. Yes, and also people in heavy traffic can

act really stupid when they hear a siren; I know cops who will wait until they get closer to the call to activate their sirens for this reason.

[MrScorpio]

14. Did you feel uncertain and intimidated at any time?

If so, then they were successful.

[Baitball Blogger]

18. Hard to say what to think about this current police department.

I can only judge them based on the hard time I get when I make public records requests. Still don't know about a code infraction that may have created a public health issue.

It wasn't always like that. We once had a very personable police chief who everyone adored. Some gadflies got close enough to him to learn that he had stood up to the city manager once when there was a traffic infraction on a non-city road (417?) and the cm asked that his ticket be handled by the city police. The police chief declined the request.

But, there must have been limitations even for him, because the word was that the city manager was in control of the city. The police chief eventually retired, which was a tremendous loss to the city since he really did run a transparent police department. Never had a problem with public records requests and his department always erred on the liberal side when providing records.

This current one, I don't know. They may have close ties to members in this community. That is how things work around here.

[notadmblnd]

26. On his way to Crispy Cream (reason for lights)

Dispatch called and sent him on a call (reason for angry expression and u turn)

[Iggo]

28. Could've been a skin color check.

Happens to me now and again. ("Hey! You in the hoodie! Oh, excuse me, sir. Have a nice evening.&quot

[B Calm]

30. Maybe he had his lights on because he was about to do an illegal U turn?

Probably playing with his laptop at the same time too. I've seen that a lot of times, talk about distracted drivers, cops are the worst!

[kwassa]

32. Shift change. I used to see this in Providence, RI.

The police would all turn on their emergency lights and sirens, and head back to the police station at the same time in the late afternoon.

[Baitball Blogger]

33. Except...

that he was headed towards the police department before he turned on his lights.