Indulge me on strobing lights

[BehindBlueI's]

Being in foot pursuits at night with someone strobing is annoying.

I've been told that strobing the ground in front of a fleeing suspect (in the dark, of course) and then turning the light off completely often causes them to stumble and fall. I don't know why, but apparently it's like when you're walking down stairs and expect one more stair but are already on the ground, you hit stiff-legged and stumble a bit.

I've never had the equipment and opportunity to test it, personally.

[andre3k]

Like other posters mentioned, I mainly use it to get drivers attention when working traffic at a scene or just a quick way to get someones attention and it works well in that role. Also, works good when on the ground and you need to signal your position to an air unit when setting up a perimeter at night.

[TCB]

I've been told that strobing the ground in front of a fleeing suspect (in the dark, of course) and then turning the light off completely often causes them to stumble and fall. I don't know why, but apparently it's like when you're walking down stairs and expect one more stair but are already on the ground, you hit stiff-legged and stumble a bit.

I've never had the equipment and opportunity to test it, personally.

Maybe, I've found that if they can't see where they're going and trip...I can't see and trip too. But I have a talent of being able to find every hole in an open field...all I have to do is start running across it.

[txdpd]

I've been told that strobing the ground in front of a fleeing suspect (in the dark, of course) and then turning the light off completely often causes them to stumble and fall. I don't know why, but apparently it's like when you're walking down stairs and expect one more stair but are already on the ground, you hit stiff-legged and stumble a bit.

I've never had the equipment and opportunity to test it, personally.

I've also heard that applying a flashlight to the back their heads tends to cause disorientation and loss of balance, but that's very theoretical and I wouldn't know anything about that.

[Hambo]

I've also heard that applying a flashlight to the back their heads tends to cause disorientation and loss of balance, but that's very theoretical and I wouldn't know anything about that.

That sounds a lot easier than trying to shine a light ahead of them. Theoretically, of course.

[babypanther]

I used to amaze other Agents when they would show me their new strobe flashlights by demonstrating how my Surefire Fury had a "variable speed" strobe function... My Fury has a clicky tailcap and when you lightly press it it turns on in "momentary" mode... I would just activate it in momentary mode "strobing" it at different speeds with my thumb elisiting ohhs and ahhhs...

"Strobing" at night (day time too) is very helpful when getting other Agents or air assets in to your position, but can be done easily, manually. Being in foot pursuits at night with someone strobing is annoying.

When I was still with the Patrol, I did the same thing with my Stinger/tonk light/whatever surefire I was using at the time, didnt need/want the strobe feature.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Doing some work with a local ERT unit (which is what we call SWAT) I found that in FOF in low light scenarios I was significantly more disoriented by teams with strobes than by teams without.

Whether that translates well to a single individual with a strobing light dealing with a single assailant I'm not sure. Dealing with 3-5 strobes in an advancing team is really, really, bewildering, though.

[SoCalDep]

I have to agree with a lot of the above posts. I think strobe can have a place in the theoretical tactical realm, but the technology, understanding, training, and context isn't there yet.

I have a LOT of flashlights... Some of my co-workers joke that I must have died in a very dark place in a prior life. I love low light training and tactics. I've looked at strobe and found the disadvantages at this time outweigh the advantages. The first issue is one of equipment. There's really only one "version" of a hand-held flashlight I know of that truly combines an immediately accessible strobe with immediately accessible high power constant light. This is the Klarus and now I guess Terralux has copied or licensed the design. It uses a two-button tailcap switch that works really well if you're prepared and have indexed the switches to the right spot (perfect world and all that...). Second place (but not really acceptable) are the lights that require a single head turn to go from high to strobe. A good example of these are the 4Sevens Quark/Maelstrom lights (I have several) that are programmable for head tight and head loose. I experimented for quite some time (and still use fairly often) a Maelstrom that was set for high mode when the head was tightened and strobe when loosened at least 1/4 turn. The lights that require multiple presses or head-twists or button pushes to achieve strobe are not conducive to tactical use. I say this owning two Klarus lights (an XT-11 and the smaller XC something) but I carry a Streamlight PT1L-1AA every day with strobe disabled. The Klarus dual switch is too complicated and the 4Sevens lights don't fit my hand quite as well as the Streamlight.

As for Weaponlights (from an equipment standpoint), I carried an Insight WX-150 (I think that's what it was called) years ago when I worked patrol. It had strobe and I used it for a few circumstances. I thought it "might" help but had no real evidence it did. To this day I don't know if it would have given any advantage. I've used strobe in training and I've seen it hundreds of times in training, and most of the time it's activated inadvertently. This becomes a big distraction for the shooter. I'm sure it would distract the suspect as well, but bright lights have a tendency to do that anyway. Gunfire also has a tendency to do that. I'll take a simple bright light and good mindset, movement, manipulation, and marksmanship any day over a strobe.

This brings us from equipment to context - I think there are times and situations where a strobe can be beneficial, and times when it is not beneficial. This comment could also be said about lasers, and I'm a huge fan of lasers, so one could call me hypocritical. That said, I think we haven't really evaluated the full advantages and drawbacks of strobe like we have lasers and we really don't have a good grasp of what they really do well and what they don't. To me this means that strobe could be a great tool, but I will not advocate for a "could be" for those who need to go defend their lives and the lives of others. As an instructor, it's my responsibility to learn as much as I can - keep an open mind to anything that could improve survival and safety - and only teach what I KNOW works. This is why I don't teach or advocate strobe at this time.

Lastly, Training. Let's assume for the moment that strobe can provide such a significant advantage in a tactical situation that it's use justifies the increased complexity of the user-interface/switching system on the light or WML. How do we train this? How do we build the understanding of when to use strobe compared to other light functions? How do we train to access strobe and other light functions, both with light in hand and when drawing the light in a reactive situation? How do we avoid being distracted and/or disoriented by the strobe? How do we train to mitigate the drawbacks caused by the strobe (including diminished ability to perceive movement and more difficulty in consistent sight alignment)? That's a lot of training time for a single function of a light some people will have and many won't at the expense of training for other things... and for most of us, training time and/or budget are finite.

I think strobe could be great for signalling (never had to use it myself), and I use it on a particular low-light course of fire with strobe shining in the deputy's/officer's face - easily overcome by using a bright light or weapon-light.

[LtDave]

That sounds a lot easier than trying to shine a light ahead of them. Theoretically, of course.

A Gonzalez 415 might work. Theoretically.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Thanks all for the replies. I really don't see it useful for the FOG home defender. It is seductive for the gear centric, don't train crowd.