Are police trying to be sneaky with inside-mounted lights?

Slicktops just haven't caught on in Cedar Rapids.

Slicktops are police cars with warning lights mounted behind the grille and inside, rather than on top of the vehicle. The Cedar Rapids Police Department moved light bars inside 17 of its 79 marked cars last year.

They did it not to better sneak up on motorists but because some light bars proved faulty in wet weather, said Lt. Jerry Potter, who manages the fleet.

“We were having a lot of trouble with the existing lights with moisture problems, and moving them inside takes care of this problem,” said Potter.

Newer light bars are watertight, though, so the department is again ordering roof-mounted lights for its patrol cars. The 17 Cedar Rapids cruisers will retain their interior-mounted lights until they're retired in three or four years.

“We don't plan to expand the number of slicktops,” Potter said.

That puts Cedar Rapids in step with other area departments. Only the Iowa State Patrol routinely uses slicktops for traffic patrol.

“We want people to think we're sneaky, and many have those cars, but in general, all of our regular marked patrol units have the lights on top,” said Iowa City Police Sgt. Denise Brotherton.

The exceptions are cars assigned to watch commanders and Iowa City's street crimes unit, Brotherton said.

All departments have some slicktops, generally unmarked cars reserved for supervisors or investigators. Linn County deputies who spend most of their time serving warrants also are assigned unmarked cars.

“They're still in uniform, but their primary purpose isn't responding to calls for service, nor is it traffic enforcement,” said Sheriff Brian Gardner.

The replacement of conventional bulbs with light-emitting diodes (LED) has allowed light bars to become smaller and more efficient. LEDs use less electricity to produce a brighter light and last longer than incandescent bulbs.

“With the evolution of the light bars, they've become virtually impossible to see until you're real close. Yet when they're lit up, they give us the protection and visibility we believe is necessary,” said Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek.

Forty percent of the Iowa State Patrol's fleet is slicktop, said Capt. Mark Probst.

“We disburse them evenly throughout our districts throughout the state,” said Probst. “They're expected to do normal routine traffic work.”

Probst noted cars are assigned by seniority, and senior officers seem to prefer the slicktop models.

Police units in Hiawatha, Marion and Coralville are all outfitted with rooftop lights.

“The officers like them, and no one's said otherwise,” said Marion Police Chief Harry Daugherty.

Light bars are going a step higher in Albuquerque, N.M., where vehicles on freeway duty have light bars mounted on a lift that can extend four feet and rotate for improved visibility farther down the road. The experimental bars cost $4,000, compared with $1,200 for the models used in Cedar Rapids, whether mounted inside or on top of the car.

In Cedar Rapids, some taller officers complained the interior lights cut into their headroom, but the slicktops had at least one advantage.

“It made the cars a little more difficult to spot from a distance,” Potter said.