Why are spotlights on USA police cars but not on Toronto cop cars?

Factual Questions
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There are several types of bright white lights being used on your typical police cruiser.

First of all, what I assume dandmb50 is talking about, are spotlights. These are mounted in the A-pillar of the cruiser, usually on the driver’s side but can be on the passenger’s side, or both. These are used to read house numbers at night, look in bushes for a missing person, shine in the rearview mirror of a stopped car (to obstruct their vision of the officer) and generally illuminate anything that needs illuminating- in effect, a high-powered, non-portable flashlight.

Secondly, what ryan was talking about are called take-down lights. (In the picture, they are the white lights on the lightbar in between the red and blue lights. Note the spotlight on the A-pillar as well). They are a part of the lightbar and are primarily used to flood a stopped vehicle with light, so the officer has better visibility of the subject and the subject has reduced visibility of the officer.

Finally, there are what is known as alley lights. They are mounted on the side of a lightbar, and are used (unsurprisingly) to shine light down a dark alley at night, or any other application where the officer would need to illuminate something to the side of the cruiser. IIRC, they were invented by the LAPD in the 70’s by attaching spotlights to the side of their lightbars.

I am not exactly sure what your question was, dandmb50, but I hope ignorance has been fought.

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nm

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As a former cop here in southern CA., I personally would have never taken a unit out at night without a spotlight. I found the main advantage and necessity for a mounted spot light was for officer safety on traffic stops. By aiming my spotlight right into the drivers rearview mirror prior to my approaching the vehicle, It would temporarily blind the driver(occupants). This allowed for a tacticle advantage as I approached and assessed. It is important to not silhouette yourself in the spotlight.
Have you never noticed all the bright lights in your rearview during a T-stop?
I know this does’nt answer the Q just info.

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In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell refers to a study that showed that solo police officers were less likely to be hurt or killed than those who had partners. The reason was unclear, but Gladwell speculated that solo cops were less likely to take risks or get into very dangerous situations than cops who knew their partners had their backs.