Cerritos College
Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

Cerritos College • Norwalk, Calif.

Talon Marks

Calendar
TM Digital Newsletter

TM TikTok

Hold the phone, cops do it too?

Hold+the+phone%2C+cops+do+it+too%3F

A blur zooms by and only a quick glance can be taken of a car filled with computers, cameras, a GPS, radios and cell phones. Is this something out of a ‘Back to the Future’ film?

No, this is our local police who are supposed to look out for us.

The same police that will pull over the next bum who gets caught texting and driving.

According to California vehicle code section- 23123 letter D, emergency services are exempt from the cellphone usage law.

Law or no law, this is still a distraction.

Cellphones and other devices in a car are considered distracting enough to cause accidents, yet police officers use the same items without legal consequence.

Police rely on cellphones to distribute sensitive and important information because airwaves are monitored by media and private citizens.

The way information is received can be fixed by perhaps having a teleprompter type of system to view new information. There is already technology like this.

Maybe instead of computers, officers can use tablets for information and use a voice recognition device to write reports as they drive.

Texting while behind the wheel is a distraction.

According to the law, if one actually bothers to read it carefully, there are a bunch of other things that can be deemed as distractions, such as eating, putting on make-up, changing the radio station, moving the GPS and of course, texting.

But what about the police? There’s a whole hacker system in their car and they have the audacity to drive and use it all.

This has resulted in fatalities.

The most recent incident was in 2013 when a policeman was distracted by using the “mobile digital computer” in the car and hit and killed a cyclist who turned out to be Milton Olin Jr., a former Napster executive.

Although typing behind the wheel wasn’t deemed as illegal, after this accident, computer usage in the car seemed to tighten up.

There was a policy recently passed in February that only allowed Los Angeles County deputies to use their computers when pulled over or stopped at red lights.

The main problem is technology has been long outdated.

Surely there will be no Robocop sort of technology appearing anytime soon, but things can change as simple as having a Bluetooth device to communicate.

There are answers and there are ways. In the meantime, there can be no citizen’s arrest made on distracted police, only judging stares.

Story continues below advertisement
About the Contributor
Yasmin Cortez, Staff Writer
Spring 2015 Yasmin Cortez- My Major is English with emphasis in Film/Media, I plan to transfer to UCLA next semester, this is my first semester in TalonMarks! I’m iFalcon Club’s Public Relations Officer, Secretary for Social Photography Club, and I was on the Cross Country team. Fun facts: I plan to get my sky diving license, American Psycho is my favorite movie, I was a foley artist for a Feature Film and received IMDb credits, I have a tarantula named Harry, I'm a dancer for the Pacifico Dance Company, and last semester I was hit by the Frantone's van while skateboarding at school (I was skating because earlier that week my bike was stolen from campus)
Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

All Talon Marks Picks TM Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Activate Search
Hold the phone, cops do it too?