Cruise Lights or Confuse Lights?
Remember when Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office rolled out “cruise lights” and said it was about visibility and deterrence? Well, if the community response is any indication… we’re gonna go ahead and call this one a swing and a miss.
Since our last article, the reaction from Southshore residents has been overwhelmingly negative. What was pitched as a tool to help us feel safer has instead left people confused, irritated, and wondering if their vision is going bad. The lights—those steady blues glowing even when a deputy isn’t actively responding to anything—now seem to flicker at random intervals. It’s less “police presence” and more “disco patrol.”
Even more telling: officers from other agencies aren’t exactly lining up to copy the idea. I spoke with several off-the-record, and let’s just say the reviews were… less than glowing. Most feel the lights make their jobs harder, not easier—blurring the lines between a routine patrol and a response in progress.
Let’s be clear: if the idea behind cruise lights was to build trust and boost safety, that’s not what’s happening. Instead, we’re seeing confusion, desensitization, and frustration from people who genuinely want to support law enforcement—but also want to know what they’re looking at when a sheriff’s vehicle passes by.
There may be some perceived benefits—like greater visibility of patrols or a sense that HCSO is out in the community more—but the unintended consequences are starting to pile up. When every marked Tahoe is glowing blue 24/7, how are drivers supposed to know when to yield? How are residents supposed to recognize a real emergency from a nightly loop around the block?
Hopefully, Sheriff Chad Chronister and the HCSO leadership team take a moment to reassess. We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume the intention was good (though that’s up for debate). But it’s becoming clear this is a failed experiment. One that needs to be turned off before the confusion leads to real consequences.
Let’s retire the cruise lights while it’s still just a community complaint—and not something that makes a bad situation worse.