Re: Best flashlight Law Enforcement?
I'm not in law enforcement, but I do security work from time to time. My two-cents worth is as follows:
I carry a Gladius. Expensive, yes, but very versatile - being able to use it set dim is a very good thing for the battery life. As mentioned above, being an LED means you won't break a bulb by dropping it when it's hot, or just knocking it on something. The Gladius also backs off if it senses that it's getting too hot, and warns you by flashing periodically before the batteries need changing - all in all a fantastic light for lighting a single target.
I also have a Surefire L2 LumaMax - it is all flood, and no spot. This is better for a search. Again, it is also an LED emitter, rather than an incandescent bulb, and also has a two level output. I do find that this is largely redundant at the moment, though, and so spends its life clipped to a rucksack, ready for being packed and deployed.
I also have a little white LED on a keyring. This is mainly used to find the Gladius when I drop it in the dark when it isn't switched on. I can confirm just how silly that makes you feel.
If I were to add anything to the Gladius, it would be something like a Wolf-Eyes M90-T(F) - uses rechargeable cells, with a fast charger, has a decent run time, and is a huge floody beam which is great for illuminating a big area for searching. As a bonus, Wolf-Eyes products are relatively cheap.
Wolf-Eyes also do an LRB-168B cell, which replaces a pair of CR123A cells, and can be used in many existing flashlights, but not all. I understand that they fit the Gladius, but I don't know how well they work with the low-charge indicator - I aim to find out soon, however.