The Greater Sudbury Police Service is taking a step to increase the safety of their officers by installing blue lights in their vehicles in combination with the standard red lights.
“There's been a lot of studies that indicate a combination of red and blue lights on police vehicles is much safer than just red,” Chief of Police Ian Davidson said at the Greater Sudbury Police Board meeting Monday night. “When you think about it, there's red lights in intersections and red lights on cars – they're very common.”
Vehicle stops on the highways and in the communities are pegged as one of the most dangerous aspects of policing. With officers being seriously injured or killed as a result of accidents during vehicle stops, the government permitted the use of flashing blue lights, on June 4, 2007. The combination of flashing red and blue lights will increase the visibility and public recognition of police vehicles. As well, blue is highly visible to the human eye, especially at night, Davidson told.
Though not mandatory, the Chief admitted the light modification would be a province-wide initiative.
“It is voluntary, but there is so much research, there is no other choice but to follow,” he said.
Eventually, the entire light bar on the police vehicles will be changed, however, for a more economical, temporary approach, the Greater Sudbury Police Service has opted to replace the bulbs only.
Purchasing all new light bars would run a cost of $40,000-50,000, whereas the bulbs will only cost $4,400.
“It's an inexpensive transition to increase the safety of our police officers,” Davidson said. “As we start going through the next phase and transition to the new light bars, we'll buy them pre-designed that way.”
The Chief is hoping to have the transition completed within the next couple months.
