Police lighting began with the use of normal bulbs which spinning. This gave the effect of a strobe light without the actual light turning on/off. After this design came the strobe lights in enclosure using xenon gas discharges. These lights were bright and are currently used on many emergency vehicles, however they don’t last very long and consume a lot of power. The current trend in police lighting uses LED technology.

LED use for police lighting was initially very expensive, however with the advancement of technology in led manufacturing these lighting bars have become more affordable for professionals.

Most professional strobe lights currently made use the standard .5 watt high power LEDs in an array inside plastic enclosures with a lens. New offerings such as the 1 watt high power led strobe from other manufactures can give you twice the light output at a comparatively lower price. Normal 5mm or 8mm LEDs are usually not used in emergency lighting because they don’t have the lumens light output necessary for day use; for night they work okay.

Another advantage of LED strobes is the ability to last thousands of hours without burning out. Furthermore, they do not consume very much power allowing the cop car to have their lights on when ignition is off.