Michigan became the twenty-sixth state in the Union in January 1837. It’s the home of Detroit, the birthplace of the American automobile industry, where the likes of Henry Ford, the Dodge Brothers (who once worked for Ford) , Ransom Olds, and Henry Leland turned it into “Motor City.”
It took 80 years before it formed the Michigan State Constabulary to fill in for National Guard members who had been called overseas to fight in World War I. Two years later, the Constabulary was made into a permanent peacekeeping force, renamed the Michigan State Police. It would take another decade before the MSP started using marked patrol cars (1929), which at the time were equipped with fender-mounted red spotlights with the word “Stop” stenciled across the glass. This remained the status quo until the 1940s, when convex-shaped light fixtures with bulbs in the front and rear were attached to the roofs of each vehicle.
The singular, bright red rotating beacons — also known as “bubble” or “gumball” lights — first came into use in 1956 and, believe it or not, have never been replaced. The MSP is the only department in the United States that still uses this vintage design that was once commonly used atop police cars during the 1950s and 60s and thus has remained instantly recognizable to entire generations of Michiganders.
Why Fix What Isn’t Broken?
Tradition isn’t the only reason why the Michigan State Police has kept the gumball lights all these years, although they do have a penchant for tradition, considering they also have a “STOP” sign attached to the hoods of their patrol cars . Each year, the MSP conducts an evaluation and puts the latest police vehicles through an extensive testing procedure to see if they’re any better than the previous year’s model and would be more suitable for use by the department…