NYPD cruiser questions and blue lights

[krash131]

Okay so the title of this thread may be a little misleading, sorry guys, and its three questions in one.

First question: While waiting for the bus to go back to Boston last weekend I saw an NYPD explorer. The front of it said NYPD traffic, and the pack didn't have a PCT number but i think it said TIU or something, I couldn't really tell. Is this car part of the NYPD traffic division or something else? It was painted white with blue lettering and looked just like a regular NYPD cruiser not, the regular traffic pattern.

Second Question: There is a new bus service on the BX12. On this service, the buses run with blue lights flashing in the front of the bus. Wouldn't that be illegal since the buses are not EMS, or Vol. FF as per the VTL?

Third question: I've seen a few NYPD cruisers out of sector, such as a 103rd and 67th PCT car in Midtown. Are those cars just out of sector on an assignment or lunch break, been reassigned to a new pct and just not gotten the new numbers or something else?

Thanks a bunch for your answers guys.

[NYJets44288]

First Ans: NYPD now paints Auxiliary and Traffic Enforcement cars WHITE like the regular RMP's. You may also see Toyota Prius's painted the same way, looks weird.

Third Ans: They're assigned to Midtown on a detail, you won't see a 67 or 103 car in times square on a lunch break the Sgt won't be too happy. They float guys from the precincts


As for the second question idk, blue lights have no significance for any volunteer services in NYC. NYPD has them in the back of a lot of new cars also along with the red, white, and amber lights.

[GhostJ]

First Ans: NYPD now paints Auxiliary and Traffic Enforcement cars WHITE like the regular RMP's. You may also see Toyota Prius's painted the same way, looks weird.



Why did NYPD paints Auxiliary and Traffic Enforcement cars WHITE? Is there a real reason for NYPD to do that?:confused:

[NYCAPO]

Okay so the title of this thread may be a little misleading, sorry guys, and its three questions in one.

First question: While waiting for the bus to go back to Boston last weekend I saw an NYPD explorer. The front of it said NYPD traffic, and the pack didn't have a PCT number but i think it said TIU or something, I couldn't really tell. Is this car part of the NYPD traffic division or something else? It was painted white with blue lettering and looked just like a regular NYPD cruiser not, the regular traffic pattern.

Do you mean like this?
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3059/2854176986_e72b99657a_o.jpg

Like Jets said, the NYPD is now painting all Auxiliary, School Safety, and Traffic Enforcement vehicles white so they look like regular police cars.

White Auxiliary RMP:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3179/2702212411_89354e49a3_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/2791381738_2c8c029a61_o.jpg

White School Safety RMP:
http://flickcabin.com/public/view/full/13328
http://flickcabin.com/public/view/full/13329

(Photos belong to Import Invasion)

White Traffic Enforcement RMP:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3248/2831223823_3f11619f8f_b.jpg

[NYCAPO]

Why did NYPD paints Auxiliary and Traffic Enforcement cars WHITE? Is there a real reason for NYPD to do that?:confused:

2 reasons. First, to save the department money since white is cheaper than dark blue or black. Second, to make it look like more police officers are on the streets.

[krash131]

yes NYCAPO, the explorer looked just like the one in the picture. Is school safety going to keep their current paint scheme?


NYJetst, I know that cruisers are now using blue lights in the back and some places like yonkers and garden city have them in the front, but my question was it illegal for NYCTA to have them on buses in the front?

thanks again guys

[NYCAPO]

yes NYCAPO, the explorer looked just like the one in the picture. Is school safety going to keep their current paint scheme
thanks again guys

School Safety is also switching to white for their vehicles.
http://flickcabin.com/public/view/full/13328
http://flickcabin.com/public/view/full/13329

(Photos belong to Import Invasion)

[lpstopper]

I have always been curious, what does RMP mean?

[kxl77]

radio motor patrol aka squad car

[Smitty12]

NO it's not for a Civilian car technically to have a flashing blue Light.
But Its the Mta Who di u think gave them the go ahead to make it so.

But the reason for the flashing lights is. It's an express along the route. some of them you pay at stop and not on the Bus to speed up things.

[bxhousing]

Krash,

Yes, blue lights (in NYS) are for volunteer FF's personal vehicles and recently approved for rearward facing lights of police vehicles based on studies - most notably the FHP study on emergency vehicle lights and MVA's. Places like Garden City and Yonkers have been using blue and red combinations for years. No one has made an issue of it, I guess. The NYSP would have to be the ones to really crack down. I have seen countless voly ambulances and fire trucks using blue lights both front and back. No one seems to care.

As for the buses... I have seen it. I have no idea why they do it. It could be the new way they signal to call the police. Again... even if not technically allowed by the VTL the state police would have to crack down and I don't see that happening. Maybe someone from the MTA PD has a better answer.

I could be wrong, but I suspect that painting the cars white is an attempt to make it seem like there are more cops out there on the street then there really are. Most people would not be able to tell between a regular patrol RMP, and auxiliary, or SS/Traffic.

[krash131]

Bxhousing, i initially thought that the blue lights were a call police set up as well, but apparently they aren't

here's a video of the bus approaching a stop fast forward it to 1:00 since that is when the bus takes off and you can see the blue lights flashing with a regular destination sign.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK5sbmtDbNQ

Apparently this is part of Bloomberg's new rapid transit plan or something, and the MTA, NYPD, DOT are all on board to enforce the bus only lane that this route is supposed to travel in. I just find it interesting that a quasi-government agency who's primary job is driving vehicles and who has police officers who can enforce the VTL would break it.

[NYCTNT]

Who cares if its got blue lights. Do you know its a MTA bus or not?.

POSSIBLY, jusssst possibly those blue lights were put on so people would be AWARE that its a new bus route or an express bus.

ALL NYPD vehicles will be painted white and will have the POLICE style scheme except they will have whatever division they are printed on the front/sides and rear.

The outside pcts you observed in midtown were probably assigned to CRV or some other detail. No biggie.

[srq screw]

maybe it is my computer, but the light on the bus appears to be somewhere between amber and puke green - not blue...

[NYCTNT]

I still vote for "who cares".

Anyone with me?

[Marko360]

Im with ya

But heres the theory for red/blue/amber lights for those who care...
Red lights are said to be more visible in day
Blue are more visible at night
Amber are more visible in fog

[NorwichCadet]

I still vote for "who cares".

Anyone with me?

amen to that! What's the deal with the colors anywayz. ...a cop car can have rainbow lights and a disco ball on top for all i care....the point is so that they can be seen easily

[Marko360]

NYCTNT, do they still have the TNT? I havent heard them mentioned in a while.

[NYCTNT]

Nah no more TNT. Now its just SNEU(Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit) and Boro Narcotics.

Thats back in the day. Although the perps still call narco guys TNT.

"Yo... dat be TNT yo."

[mark7777]

Im with ya

But heres the theory for red/blue/amber lights for those who care...
Red lights are said to be more visible in day
Blue are more visible at night
Amber are more visible in fog

true I think and its my opinion but NY should stop being half hearted and just go red/blue to the front also..
there are some that will cry about tradition and such.. ba humbug to tradition go with what works best.

[Sled]

The blue lights on the Buses denote a special bus route, I do not know the specifics of it, it is fairly new, and I do not know the legality of it, though I highly doubt the VTL allows it, there are other alternatives to marking a bus.

Bxhousing wrote:

"As for the buses... I have seen it. I have no idea why they do it. It could be the new way they signal to call the police. Again... even if not technically allowed by the VTL the state police would have to crack down and I don't see that happening. Maybe someone from the MTA PD has a better answer."

To call Police, the buses have an LED sign front, rear, and both sides that, idf activated, read CALL 911-EMERGENCY, or a similar saying. The blue light has nothing to do with that.

Why would it be the State Police to be the ones to crack down, the NYSP does not even patrol in NYC, so, how would they enforce this. And, what is wrong with the NYPD enforcing it? They can enforce it if they wanted to. Why don't they? I have been retired for a little while, maybe the NYPD cops are hesitant to write other municipal employees, or maybe the Job tells them not to, or it could be that no one really cares.

The NYPD cops never really made a big deal of what colors lights FDNY put on the rigs, or what the Volunteer Depts in NYC did (yes, there are more than a few volunteer Fire Depts still in NYC), so I do not see them making a big deal over the buses.

I vote for the lack of caring.

[bxhousing]

Sled -

I do not mean enforced at the patrol level. I mean instructing the agency to comply. Even if I could find a cop that "motivated" to pull over a bus and write the driver for violating the VTL because of lights installed by the agency, I don't think that would be an effective way of enforcing laws related to lights.

As for caring, I don't... the original question was about the lights and if they violate the VTL. Unless there are changes that have been made that I am not aware of then yes, they do. A lot of questions on here are in the realm of "technically" or "theoretically." My answer was, and is, in that realm. I don't care what MTA/NYCT does with their buses.

[the rookie c.o]

Nah no more TNT. Now its just SNEU(Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit) and Boro Narcotics.

Thats back in the day. Although the perps still call narco guys TNT.

"Yo... dat be TNT yo."

Can't wait till become a police officer this is one of units that I will love to get into.

[NYCTNT]

[QUOTE=Sled;1527662] I have been retired for a little while, maybe the NYPD cops are hesitant to write other municipal employees, or maybe the Job tells them not to, or it could be that no one really cares. QUOTE]


Personally, I never mess with the working man.

[Back to NYC]

[QUOTE=Sled;1527662] I have been retired for a little while, maybe the NYPD cops are hesitant to write other municipal employees, or maybe the Job tells them not to, or it could be that no one really cares. QUOTE]


Personally, I never mess with the working man.

Unless he's a raging, disrespectful *******...which seems, sadly, to be pretty common. Oddly, some cops seem to think that being a bus driver gives someone the right to curse them out or threaten them, and that MTA/Sanitation/etc. employees are somehow off-limits for a summons regardless of attitude and discourtesy. It's like a PBA card. Valid PBA card (with a phone number, please) or city agency + courtesy and respect = no summons, no lecturing, no nastiness. But if you've got a PBA card or work for a city agency and you come at a cop with attitude and arrogance, you're still getting one, regardless of the fact that you cut a cop's hair or fix his car, or you drive the Q60 bus.

You're "on the job," Mr. Bus Driver/San Man/etc.? You're not on MY job.

[NYCTNT]

Back,

By all means, I will write them a 6 pack and call it a day.

[NorwichGrad05]

Can't wait till become a police officer this is one of units that I will love to get into.


Good luck...but remember this phrase..."JAMMED UP" lol