Unjustified use of siren

[ady.foot]

Why do I lose points when using the siren to catch up to a car I want to pull over? E.g. a car, driving the other direction, is committing an offence. I put the lights and siren on, turn around and catch up to the car. I end up being deducted conduct points for using the siren and, sometimes, for driving too fast. This needs to be sorted out.

[ltolman4]

LOL odd.

I can be behind 2-3 cars and then i'll see a notification saying "Vehicle ran a red light" so i turn on lights, then siren, then immediately catch up to the car; and no penalties for me yet

[RynoHawk]

IRL cops cannot use sirens unless they're responding to an emergency. They can use the lights when catching up to a traffic violator and they can "whoop" the siren for a few seconds to clear intersections and/or get people in front of them to yield.

That being said, if you don't use your sirens when trying to catch up to someone, you get docked for going to fast, even if your lights are on. I think that is what needs to be removed; The "going to fast" penalty when your lights are on.

[JohnBart]

For now, as a workaround to that, it's possible to disable the player speed check in the Gameplay settings (although that's a general setting, and not restricted to lightbar usage only). I agree with Rynohawk though that the player violations checks should be fine-tuned to be more lenient when it comes to lightbar usage to catch up to violators.

[ady.foot]

Originally posted by RynoHawk:

IRL cops cannot use sirens unless they're responding to an emergency. They can use the lights when catching up to a traffic violator and they can "whoop" the siren for a few seconds to clear intersections and/or get people in front of them to yield.

That being said, if you don't use your sirens when trying to catch up to someone, you get docked for going to fast, even if your lights are on. I think that is what needs to be removed; The "going to fast" penalty when your lights are on.

Real life where? In USA? Not in UK and NZ (where I live and have lived). But fair enough. I managed to find a setting to disable the game giving a penalty for speeding / using the siren.

[slymanrc]

Originally posted by ady.foot:

Real life where? In USA? Not in UK and NZ (where I live and have lived). But fair enough. I managed to find a setting to disable the game giving a penalty for speeding / using the siren.

Yeah, honestly, not in the US, either. You can't use the lights/sirens for no reason whatsoever, obviously, but initiating pursuit to make a traffic stop for an observable definitely falls in the "valid reason" category. The reason the game docks is because you aren't on a "run", so the game doesn't recognize you having a valid reason to use the ELS. It's pure coding deficiency, whether oversight or engine limitation. I really hope it's not intentional, not as a knock at the devs, but more toward the technical advisors.

There's a number of things I turn off in the game as well, because the way it's coded is frustrating. Use of Siren check, speeding check, red light check. There's an annoying intersection check that if you stop mid turn because of peds or moron AI drivers, the game might recognize you as going straight through the intersection on red, rather than turning on green, so I kill that, too. I'll also kill the crossing against red for foot patrol because even when you observe an offense, if you cross at a crosswalk against the red, you get docked. Cross anywhere else, yeah, fine, whatever. But it makes chasing down a rabbit more aggravating than it already is.

[Larrocks]

I have to agree with the comments in this thread and I hope developers address this soon. However, I should first of all say a big THANKS to the developers for creating such a phenomenal game. I am enjoying it so much and it is unbelievable what they have already achieved and how they are maintaining and expanding the game through regular updates.

So I am not complaining at all, but in case this helps, I have summarised some of the issues I'm experiencing below.

Please note they only occur in SIMULATION MODE.

1. You lose CP (conduct points) if you use sirens to chase a car committing traffic violations (e.g. red light) or an offender on foot (not on a dispatch callout). For instance, you hear a victim shout "Thief", you identify the offender and chase him with the car, but if you turn your sirens on to do so, you lose CP;
2. You lose CP if you exceed speed limits with your blue lights on but your siren off. This is unrealistic, as in some operations you don't want to keep your sirens on to alert offenders (e.g. when you're searching for a wanted suspect).
3. You lose CP if you turn right or left at an intersection with GREEN lights if the street in which you turn in also has a light which is obviously RED as you cross, because YOU have precedence. Say, for instance, you have green light at an intersection, but instead of going straight you turn right. If there's a streetlight on that street it would be obviously red for those driving from your left (before you cross) or behind you (after you cross) straight into that right turn. Obviously, that light is red as you have precedence because of your green light, but the game still thinks you have violated the red light. This happens very often and it can be really frustrating.
4. Red light CP penalties if - as @slymanrc suggested - you are forced to stop the car because of any unpredicted obstacle (pedestrians, other cars etc). You can actually get multiple penalties in the same crossing if you start and stop or hesitate various times and this can be even more unfair;
5. CP penalties for walking on a crosswalk with red light when chasing suspects on foot - as @slymanrc suggested.

I know it is possible to disable speeding and red light penalties in the game options, but I do enjoy playing with them on, as it makes the experience more realistic/immersive. If developers could address these issues it would be great!!! And again thank you so much for such an amazing game...

[robertweird777]

Interesting....here it is August and none of theses things have been tweaked. I have no issue with following traffic laws but what police have to stop at red lights when responding to a traffic accident? None is the answer.

[Larrocks]

There’s a quick fix already… just disable the penalty for sirens on for too long in the gameplay settings. I did disable all penalties that make the game unrealistic (e.g. speeding which was also an issue as sometime you need to speed to catch offenders or reach the location of an incident in time)

[Amber]

I don't know if any of you are console players or just steam players in playing place simulator patrol officer But on console I am running into the issue of when using sirens. I am getting penalized for having my siren on and driving too fast to get to an accident we need to but we get penalized just for doing that driving too fast or even having the sound on for getting to a call. Even an accident. I think it's just ridiculous on Steam or console. It's just ridiculous I hope there is a fix for it and big time

[Rasseru]

Unjustified use of siren is a thing?
What I dislike is the siren has to be "on" for any person to take notice you. You can't go "Code 2" without losing conduct points. I wish the lights would do something on the highway to slow down traffic. BTW the siren doesn't seem to work one highways and Cars don't pull over when I last play.

[Admiral General]

Best not to use realistic mode in this game because the rules and the AI don't really make sense.

[solidFOX]

Or you can just turn of Unjustified Siren Use penalty in settings. I play in Simulation mode and had to adjust the settings to my liking. Like Speed Limit shown in the UI (a Casual Mode setting).

[Amber]

Never mind. I found settings for them all for casual or even simulation

[Radiant Is The Baboon Heart]

I don't like that the siren automatically turns off when I step out of the vehicle. It should continue to go while I walk away.

[JeyBeeHH]

Originally posted by Radiant Is The Baboon Heart:

I don't like that the siren automatically turns off when I step out of the vehicle. It should continue to go while I walk away.

As far as I know, this is rather unusual internationally. Imagine if the sirens were blaring the whole time at an accident or crime scene.
That would be a serious health problem for the ears of everyone present.

It would also be extremely annoying in the game.