paging Ray1936

[Ray1936]

I dug out Larry Never's book, "Good Cops, Bad Verdict", copyright 2007, published by LAN publications. On page 135 he writes the following:

"My Mag flashlight is twelve inches long, two pounds of black aluminum and rechargeable battery. Before this night on Warren, I had hit a citizen with my flashlight only the two times I told you of earlier. The incident with a woman happened when I was in STRESS, after we had gotten her and a guy out of a car. I was paying attention to the guy when Dave Malinowski yelled, "She's got a gun!" It fell to the ground when I wheeled and smacked her on the elbow. The kid I rapped on the head was reaching to pull a gun from his boot while exiting a car. That's it. Period. But I had a Kel light, and later on the Mag light in hand during countless confrontations. It was a good, non-lethal deterrent and confidence booster."

So apparently he had a Mag light before the Malice Green incident, and a Kel light when he made that fateful stop on W. Warren avenue.

Hope this helps.

[gazhekwe]

I read that the opposite way, the first two were with the Kel light, then after that he got a Mag light. My recolllection of the news at the time goes with the Mag light. I don't think they had had them that long.

Maglites came out in 1979, according to Wikipedia, and Kel Lites in the late 60s.

[CountrySquire]

According to Ray's excerpt from Nevers' book it does look like they had Mag Lites. This makes sense as Kel Lite had been absorbed into other flashlight companies by then for about 10 years. I know Stream lite was buying Kel's and scrapping them for a period of time towards a purchase of a new light. When I watch COPS sometimes I can make out their lights well enough to tell what they have. I see a lot of Mag lights and some Streamlights. The cops in Hazel Park use Streamlight rechargeables.

[CountrySquire]

Here's my favorite Kel Lite Blurb:

http://www.kingcandids.com/personalitems/flashlight.htm

[CountrySquire]

Here's another retired cop and his collection of Kel's

http://kel-lite911.com/default.aspx

[Meddle]

I remember buying a Pro-Light at Northwest Gun across from #16. That would have been late 70's, early 80's. Might still have parts of it somewhere.

[agirlintheD]

Ray, did you know The Eagle, The Ape, Pinto?

[Ray1936]

Eagle? The Screamin' Eagle? Roy Mantay???? The other two escape me.

[agirlintheD]

You mentioned Larry Nevers' book. Had a recent discussion with a friend who knew some older DPD officers. If I'm not mistaken, she said Pinto flew with Moon. The Eagle's first name was Jim. I'll get more info and come back. Sorry for bothering you with bits-of-info. I find your knowledge/experience very interesting.

[Ray1936]

"Sorry for bothering you with bits-of-info."

No bother at all, agirlintheD! Love talking about times gone by. Fire away any time.

[reddog289]

While I love my Mag light I wish at times it were brighter. But as my "Boss" says you need that for walking the building.I have my Fathers flashlight he used when he was a reserve officer.He was proud of it, Yet now if he were around and saw the lights in use today. He would have laughed at his old light.

[Meddle]

Love talking about times gone by. Fire away any time.

So, what was your impression of Nichols?

[CountrySquire]

While I love my Mag light I wish at times it were brighter. But as my "Boss" says you need that for walking the building.I have my Fathers flashlight he used when he was a reserve officer.He was proud of it, Yet now if he were around and saw the lights in use today. He would have laughed at his old light.

Reddog, you should step into the pro leagues and check out a Streamlight SL20.

[Ray1936]

So, what was your impression of Nichols?

I worked on his campaign, hanging signs and all that kind of thing. John was a real 'cop's cop', and he would have been a good, no-nonsense, mayor. He was also an honest man.

Nichols lost the election to Coleman Young by 14,000 votes. I think it would have been a lot closer -- he may have won -- had it not been for his decision to refuse the order of Mayor Roman Gribbs to resign as Police Commissioner while running for office. Then his wife, Jean, compounded it by shooting off her mouth when Gribbs fired Nichols. She made some comments that didn't make her look good at all, and I'm sure many of the public were turned away from Nichols as a result.

We had an election night party downtown somewhere [[I forget where it was), and it was pretty much downbeat all night as the results came in. Nichols trailed all the way. When the dust settled, I swore I would never get involved in politics again.....and I haven't.

John, of course, went on to become Oakland county Sheriff, and had a fine second career there. I suppose his wife finally kept her big mouth shut.

[CountrySquire]

I worked with Clyde Nichols, brother to John Nichols when I was doing work study at OCC with the Janitors / Maintenance staff.

[Meddle]

I don't know why, but I forgot about him going to OCSO.

[Philbo]

O.K Ray, how about Paul Bennett or Mike Hrabovsky, do those names ring a bell? Thanks.

[reddog289]

sorry to threadjack, But thanks for the info on the flashlights and more info from Ray.

[Ray1936]

O.K Ray, how about Paul Bennett or Mike Hrabovsky, do those names ring a bell? Thanks.

No, sorry to note that neither of those names activate the grey cells.

[CountrySquire]

Ray,

I am the proud owner of a Bianchi B lite having successfully sniped it in the last 5 seconds it was on Ebay. Do you have any experience with B lites? Also how were all the different types of Police Flashlights marketed to Cops in the good old days?

[Ray1936]

Squire, I'm not familiar with the B lites at all. As mentioned, my last ten years on the job -- the Kel and Mag lite years -- saw me pretty much a goldbrick in planning on Hart's staff. But from time to time I'd be driver for the field duty inspector on nights, so I wandered across the street to Metropolitan Uniform and bought a Kel light. Only used it for light, glad to say. I think most of the guys bought their stuff from Metropolitan Uniform. Was convenient, anyway.

By the way, I haven't carried a gun since I retired. But I still use that Kel light today!!!

[CountrySquire]

I guess I was looking for how the lights were sold to the Police. It does not sound like reps from the companies came out and demonstrated them to the cops, instead they were marketed to uniform suppliers.

[Ray1936]

I guess I was looking for how the lights were sold to the Police. It does not sound like reps from the companies came out and demonstrated them to the cops, instead they were marketed to uniform suppliers.

That's a fair statement, I think.

[CountrySquire]

What kind of Kel lite do you have Ray, 5D? What attracted you to it vs buying a Mag Lite?

[Jimaz]

Someone here mentioned in a previous thread that the quality of Maglites has deteriorated over the last few years. That's a shame because they once cornered the high-quality end of the market, IMHO. I have a 6-D cell Maglite that must have been made before their quality dropped. It's been a real workhorse. The batteries last forever and it's bright enough to stand on end as a lantern during power outages.

I've never had to use it as a weapon but a friend once noticed it and pointed out a scar on his forehead that he said was put there by a cop's 6-D Maglite. Ouch!