It's 'lights on' for Southern Armstrong police cars at night

Motorists traveling in Freeport, Gilpin and Ford City can’t say they didn’t notice the police car anymore.

All seven police cruisers in the Southern Armstrong Regional Police Department’s fleet now travel at night with steady red and blue lights illuminated, a move that officials hope will make police more visible and acts as a deterrent to speeding and other crimes.

“I’m looking for another route to show the public that we’re here versus them saying they don’t see our police cars,” said Southern Armstrong police Chief Chris Fabec of the decision to implement the new light procedure.

The light bars on Southern Armstrong’s fleet were reprogrammed to activate steady red and blue lights during nighttime patrols. The lights, located on each side of the light bars, do not flash or move when in “cruise mode,” Fabec said.

Fabec said he got the idea while he was on a law enforcement-related trip to Maryland. He then connected with Johnstown police Chief Richard Pritchard, whose department started using cruise mode last May.

In Johnstown, cruise mode is used 24/7 in the fleet of 12 patrol cars.

“It makes it look like more cars are out on the street and lets the citizens know we’re out on the street,” Pritchard said.

Pritchard said his department used a news release and a media blitz to let people know that when they see a patrol car with its lights in cruise mode an officer isn’t trying to stop their vehicle.

“Sometimes we have folks pull over, and those officers keep on driving and don’t address it. Nobody has yelled at me yet over this, so I think it’s going OK,” he said.

Cruise mode can be shut off manually by officers when necessary, for example, when operating on an undercover assignment, Pritchard said.

Ohio Township police Chief Joseph Hanny supports cruise-mode lights and permits his officers to use it at their discretion.

The township serves several other municipalities, including Sewickley Hills, Emsworth, Ben Avon and Neville.

“We use cruise lights intermittently, sometimes following school buses or patrolling through neighborhoods. It’s not a standard operating procedure for us, but we promote it. Awareness, being visual, being out there and being seen, that’s the whole point of this,” Hanny said.

Fabec said the reprogramming costs on all of the vehicles amounted to a few hundred dollars. The program launched March 1.

A minimum of three Southern Armstrong Regional patrol cars are on patrol in Freeport, Gilpin and Ford City at any given time.

Sgt. Hunter Tackett works nights for Southern Armstrong Regional and said he welcomes the new light procedure.

“It’s a great thing because it shows the community that we’re out there. Before, we had some unmarked vehicles, and now all of our officers are in a marked vehicle,” he said.

Tackett said he hasn’t experienced any issues with drivers pulling to the side of the road because they thought they were being pulled over. Fabec stressed that motorists should pull over whenever they see flashing police lights or hear sirens behind them.

“People are talking about it, so they’re spreading the word to tell people that those (steady, cruise-mode) lights don’t mean you’re getting pulled over,” Tackett said.