When a police officer and a small business advisor approached Henway Design and Manufacturing, they were seeking someone to design and produce a product that could impact the safety of police officers during nighttime traffic stops. During our initial meeting, he had told me that he already experienced a setback with a previous electronics design consultant who, lacking the necessary expertise, led him on before ultimately disappearing. This experience left him disillusioned but still determined to bring his vision to life. Only this time, he was going to use a company with a proven record of design & manufacturing that could take him the whole way.
The product concept was simple: during nighttime traffic stops, the intense rear-facing red and blue flashers of a police cruiser can create visual obstacles for additional officers arriving at the scene. The officer envisioned a device that would allow each arriving police cruiser to temporarily turn off the rear flashers of the cruisers already on-site for 20 seconds, providing a momentary reprieve from the blinding lights. With each new arrival, the system would sequentially turn off the lights of all preceding cruisers, allowing officers to better assess the situation.
Upon reviewing the officer’s files from the previous consultant, it was clear that most of the work was not in great shape. However, there were two bright spots: the wire harness design and the system-level diagram. The previous consultant had done a good job understanding how police light bars operate and how the cables should be routed to and from the cruiser’s interior up to the light bar. While this may seem minor, such details can save considerable time in the design process—time that can then be devoted to adding essential features like automotive protection circuitry and specifying a processor and radio module suitable for automotive environments.
With this foundation, Henway took the reins. We redesigned the system from the ground up, incorporating Bluetooth 5.0 mesh networking to allow automatic communication between cruisers. We used automotive-grade components to ensure reliability in the demanding conditions faced by police vehicles and housed everything in an off-the-shelf NEMA-rated enclosure with custom silkscreen printing on the outside for easy installation.
The result was a functional prototype that could be deployed out in the field for testing. The circuit board, pictured here, has been a success among his force, proving its value in real-world conditions, and now the officer is working to get another city to adopt this life-saving technology.
This project is a testament to Henway Engineering’s commitment to working with clients to make their ideas a reality, even when they’ve faced setbacks in the past. We understand that sometimes, these ideas come from a place of deep passion and commitment—especially when lives are at stake.