I guess so. L.A. police to get new flashlights
3/30/2007, 4:16 a.m. CDT
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police will soon be outfitted with a cutting edge flashlight that is not only brighter than others, but too small to be used as a weapon.
The idea for the 7060 LED flashlight was conceived just days after news cameras broadcast images of LAPD officers beating car-theft suspect Stanley Miller with a two-pound, two-foot long standard issue police flashlight. [...]
The new 10-inch, $100 flashlight was developed and manufactured by the Torrance-based company Pelican to meet LAPD specifications. It will feature both a standard "patrol mode" and an ultra-light "tactical mode" that is bright enough to temporarily blind suspects. [...]
All I know is that I keep a four-cell Maglite in every vehicle we have.
[...] Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, praised the LAPD for the equipment change.
"It's a really important step in the right direction, and it's going to make a difference in how the police department deals with the community," she said. "We've always felt that a flashlight was not an instrument to beat people with. This new one will serve the purpose it was intended to."
As the computer guys say, "that's not a bug, that's a feature."
Posted by Terry Oglesby at March 30, 2007 09:36 AM