LED Flashlights Push Right Buttons for Cops
The Los Angeles Police Department is now distributing to police officers flashlights that use LED technology. The Pelican 7060 LED, from Pelican Products in Torrance, CA, is unique in that semiconductors serve as its light source, and it also uses less power, is nearly unbreakable, and its bulb is said to last longer than those found in most other flashlights.
The $200 Pelican flashlight is just 8.7 inches long and weighs 10 ounces, compared with big, aluminum flashlights that police officers favor and are 10 inches or longer and weigh more than 12 ounces.
Police departments in Sacramento, Glendale, and Columbus, Ohio, are also being targeted by Pelican.
Since the early 2000s, dozens of flashlight makers have introduced LED models, but market giant Mag Instrument of Ontario, CA, did not unveil its first LED products until last year.
Mag, which offers LED bulbs and flashlights, says it has addressed the inability of LEDs to project light. LEDs glow, buy Mag says its flashlights are able to project light in a powerful beam, which can also be focused by turning the top of the light. The Mag flashlights still have metal bodies that have a heavy design crafted of aluminum alloy.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) from USA Today (04/09/07); P. 2B; Krantz, Matt.