[fpdsniper]

Ok, just weighing in here as a police officer. The "spirit" of the law is designed so as not to give you the ability to use Red/Blue lights in an illegal matter. You might not have the "intent" to use them illegally, but it's just safer for everyone to make it illegal to have the ability to do it. Maybe you loaned the car to someone, or sold it with these lights. Do you want someone driving around out there with the ability to pull over your wife/daughter/girlfriend under the guise of being a LEO just so you can have some pretty blue lights? Look, we as cops don't always agree with some of the laws either. For example, the tinted window law in Illinois is so ridiculously written, it's difficult to enforce or even interpret correctly. But we don't MAKE the laws, and sometimes we don't understand what the reasons and spirit of some laws are. Think of it like the open container law in Illinois. Maybe you haven't had a drop, and you are taking your previously opened bottle to another location for consumption later. You might not have any intention of drinking out of this open bottle, but you're creating a situation that could make it likely or possible that you will. One of the worst things about being in this job is that almost EVERYONE thinks they know how to do our jobs better than us. Regardless of whether they have any training, education, or experience whatsoever. When someone calls to complain about one of my officers for giving them a ticket or whatever, they always give a very watered down account of what THEY did on the traffic stop, etc. When they tell their story, they are always somewhere in the Mother Teresa level of personal behavior, attitude, etc. They almost never give an accurate account of what happened. Then I review the in car camera footage of the traffic stop and "refresh" their memory of how they really behaved. Now, there are some honest people out there. I have had a couple occasions in my career where people I wrote a traffic citation to testified in open court that I treated them very well and wanted to thank me for this. They also admit their violation, but ask the court court supervision, etc. Those are the ones I don't mind getting leniency from the court. Long story short, if you know it's illegal and you do it anyway, be prepared to accept your punishment and don't complain about it. You did after all, make a conscious decision to violate the law whether you agree with it or not. Just my .02 worth.