Cops & Cell Phones

[legion]

It seems everywhere I go, every time I see a cop driving around, their ear is glued to a cell phone. I wonder how they are supposed to do their job when so "distracted". Good thing us plebeians are banned from such nonsense starting January 1 in Illinois. I think I can accurately count with no hands how many cops will get in trouble.

[id10t]

well you know that they get elite tactical training and qualification test so they can do it with no risks

[RicN]

Cops are well-trained to drive and talk on cell phone at the same time.


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[Heel n Toe]

Has the cellphone replaced the radio? Surely, it hasn't.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by id10t

well you know that they get elite tactical training and qualification test so they can do it with no risks

You have to hit a target at 100 yards while discussing dinner plans with the wife on the phone.

We don't have a hands free law here, so I don't get heartburn about it. Most people have a phone glued to their ear, and cops are normal people too.

[VINMAN]

Just because cops yap on the phone doesn't mean everyone else should be able to.

[flatbutt]

well the NJ ban on distracted driving with cell phones as a primary violation hasn't worked well at all. Could it be that LEOs are distracted by the plethora of things they need to keep an eye on?

[VINMAN]

All my cop buddies admit it is a hard law to enforce . Especially the texting thing .

[Porsche-O-Phile]

You know there are two sets of laws - one for the privileged (politicians/aristocracy, bankers and financiers who own them, law enforcement that upholds their lock on power, bureaucrats who uphold the ever-larger government that they preside over and which controls ever-increasing aspects of peoples' lives, etc.) and another for the serfs, peasants, and unwashed masses - the subjects.

We've come so far from 18th Century British colonial rule, haven't we?

[flatbutt]

Given everything they are tasked with I am not surprised. My nephew is a LEO upstate and he says that it's the last thing he is worried about. No. 1 is weapons, then abductions/assaults, then drugs.

[JAR0023]

Local LEO told me they go to the cell phone when they don't want folks listening to their conversations on scanners. -J

[motion]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

Just because cops yap on the phone doesn't mean everyone else should be able to.

I have a real problem with this!

[VINMAN]

Originally Posted by motion

I have a real problem with this!

Why? I dont like anyone using a phone while they are driving, cop or no cop. people cant drive as it is.

[GWN7]

We have had a cell phone ban law for several years now. At $280.00 a pop the government sees it as a revenue generating tax ticket. The actual law reads "operation of a electronic device" so they could actually charge you if you change the station on your car radio while driving. I believe police are exempt as they are with seatbelts.

A couple in their 70's were charged with cell phone use while driving. Only problem was they don't own a cell phone. Police disappointed province dropped cellphone case - Winnipeg Free Press

[ckelly78z]

All the time, my BIL calls my wife and chats for a few minutes until he says, "Oh, what's this idiot think he's doing" and has to hang up to write a ticket.

[gordner]

Cops on phones are just as much a hazard as a regular driver, more even really with all the other stuffgoing on in those cars. I really love almost getting hit by a cop who has his head down typing on his computer, as happened to me last week. No way is that safe behaviour, and no way should cops get any special consideration for distracted driving.

[LakeCleElum]

MDT is a far bigger distraction for LEO and it's been around for 15 years....No one seems to enforce our cell phone ban locally.....I've counted and at least 40% of the female mini-van drivers are on the phone.......Setting a great example for their kids......

Over ten years ago, I've been riding with friends in both Belgium and Australia....Cell rings, you pull over and stop before it comes out of your pocket.....They take driving seriously in other countries.....

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by legion

....Good thing us plebeians are banned from such nonsense starting January 1 in Illinois....

Oregon has had such a law for a few years now; It still seems to me that 7 out of 10 drivers are still yakkin' and distracted. I don't know why they don't enforce it.

[Jeff Higgins]

As an avid motorcyclist, I find myself particularly concerned with the cell phone yammerers. I think there should be a new law, of at least a free pass - if your bullet passes through the side glass on their car, their phone, and then their ear - you get off scott free. The kids and the dog in the back of the minivan will be fine - they are surrounded by airbags.

As far as cops yammering on their cells, and otherwise behaving in ways or driving in ways for which they would stop us or ticket us - at what point do they begin to understand the PR ramifications of all of this? There is a great deal of resentment and disrespect towards cops in our society; surely they must understand that issues like this bring a good deal of it upon them.

Take the population of this very BBS for example. I think it's fair to say that the folks who frequent it are for the most part successful and well educated. Maybe Porsche or BMW ownership, as kind of the gateway to this forum, pretty much ensures that. Even amongst a population such as this, who presumably have little contact with the police (with the possible exception of when we are driving), we see a manifest lack of respect, or dare I say disdain, for the police.

Why is that? Is it "us", a bunch of stuck up, self important, spoiled brats who just don't like authority, who feel it is somehow our right to be left alone when we play with our toys? Are we unique in the professional world with this attitude? Or is it "them", and their behaviors we personally observe and read about every day? I lean towards the latter, but readily acknowledge some degree of the former must play a part.

At least until I bring this up at work... At work - where I am surrounded by some pretty serious uber geeks (my fellow engineers), many of whom have no interest in fast cars. I see the same lack of respect for law enforcement. From people who would never have any occasion to have any contact with them whatsoever. When I mentioned the topic of this thread at work today, each and every one of them chimed in regarding how little regard they have for cops as a whole, and how they have noted this very behavior themselves. So maybe it's not just us...

I just have to wonder what the average cop thinks of all of this. Do they blow it off, telling themselves it just comes with the job, and nothing they could ever do would please us? Are they really as blind to this issue as they appear?

[on2wheels52]

"As an avid motorcyclist, I find myself particularly concerned with the cell phone yammerers."

Same here Jeff, identifying the talkers is just another part of my scan. I don't get upset about them, it's only another hazard to be aware of.
Jim