Cell phones, the biggest officer safety issue today.

[txdpd]

Not the ones carried by suspects and cop blockers. The phones that it seems that 95% of officers can't live without for 11 seconds.

https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/pasadena/news/article/Pasadena-officer-involved-shooting-12792088.php

Here's a video of a shooting. The officer is sending text messages at the initiation of a traffic stop. After a 30 plus second rolling stop he should have been on high alert, but he's doing phone stuff. He's doing one hand shooting thanks to that phone. Not surprised that he broke contact when he was effectively engaging the suspect, and ran behind his SUV where he gave up control of the situation. (There's another rant about "time, distance, cover" in there).

It seems like the norm now days to see cops in parking lots with thier backs to everyone and their heads buried in a phone. Or get back in their cars after a call and bury their heads in a phone. Officers that were on the phone when they were supposed to be watching suspects at calls. With body cameras we've had officers recorded texting and running code. I've seen officers at BPs light up their positions with their phones. Etc etc. It's like texting and driving, I know that everyone else can't do it, but I can't screw it up.

[TheNewbie]

I was going to call riding shotgun . Guy driving was doing 100 mph and taking calls from his wife because she gets mad if he doesn't answer.

Another EXTREMELY annoying and dangerous thing is fancy ring tones. Great way to give away your position , not to mention how unprofessional it sounds.

[octagon]

That looks to have the common failure to drop items in hand and complacency factors involved as much as cell phone usage issues. No doubt over reliance on cell phones is a growing problem in and out of Law enforcement but there may be more to it in this incident than just that.

I predict the old man ma get off my lawn rant about generational issues....in 3-2-1.

[SAWBONES]

It seems like the norm now days to see cops in parking lots with thier backs to everyone and their heads buried in a phone.

Everybody else is, so why not LEOs too?

As one born in the early '50s, I absolutely despise the modern apparent acceptability of being on one's cell phone seemingly throughout the larger fraction of every damn day, whether talking, playing, texting or whatever!

Surely not every waking minute must be spent so.



Another EXTREMELY annoying...thing is fancy ring tones.

Agree, especially when unduly loud, as they seem to usually be.
If someone calls my cell phone, I want to know it, so I have an old-fashioned phone ring as the indicator, but I quieten it right away.

[willie]

If officers are ordered to leave personal phones back at the station, then wouldn't they be required to comply?

[BehindBlueI's]

If officers are ordered to leave personal phones back at the station, then wouldn't they be required to comply?

We're required to have one. Used to be a pager...

[HCM]

We're required to have one. Used to be a pager...

Pagers. Wow, Tom can we get an Old English Font for old school posts ?

[Duelist]

I would want the officers to have one on them, but using them "intelligently". We don't know from the video if the officer was texting while following the idiot, or if he picked it up off his lap or from a cubby with his left hand as he exited the vehicle, and then things got exciting fast enough that he was shooting with the phone mashed into his two handed grip.

By-the-by. They kept saying in the article that they didn't know if the idiot fired at the cop, but in the video, there is a moment when smoke comes from the muzzle of his gun coinciding with the sound of a shot. So, whether he did at the beginning of the dance or not, he did try to get a round off at the officer.

[LockedBreech]

Everybody else is, so why not LEOs too?

As one born in the early '50s, I absolutely despise the modern apparent acceptability of being on one's cell phone seemingly throughout the larger fraction of every damn day, whether talking, playing, texting or whatever!

Surely not every waking minute must be spent so.

I'm a guy in my twenties who has had a smartphone since early high school. In the last year or so I have made a concentrated effort to detach from my smartphone and it's truly upsetting what an iron grip it had on me without me even realizing it. Getting all the social media apps off the phone helped but even then I catch myself aimlessly scrolling through reddit or Google News on the browser or P-F on tapatalk.

My retired 21-year LEO father, curmudgeonly, grumpy, and in his 60s, uses his phone even more than I do, but still complains about the young kids and their phones, seemingly oblivious that it has him just as bad.

I think it's not a factor of generation, simply a factor that a handful of years ago society got mini-supercomputers and we are really bad at using them in a healthy, reasonable way.

[camsdaddy]

I'm a guy in my twenties who has had a smartphone since early high school. In the last year or so I have made a concentrated effort to detach from my smartphone and it's truly upsetting what an iron grip it had on me without me even realizing it. Getting all the social media apps off the phone helped but even then I catch myself aimlessly scrolling through reddit or Google News on the browser or P-F on tapatalk.

My retired 21-year LEO father, curmudgeonly, grumpy, and in his 60s, uses his phone even more than I do, but still complains about the young kids and their phones, seemingly oblivious that it has him just as bad.

I think it's not a factor of generation, simply a factor that a handful of years ago society got mini-supercomputers and we are really bad at using them in a healthy, reasonable way.
I am trying to disconnect more and more. I find its like a cigarette most of the times Im looking at it out of habit rather than need.

[octagon]

I had a flip phone for years and swore I would never get a smart phone. Until I got promoted to Sgt and had a team of 10 guys texting me frequently. I couldn't keep up on a flip phone with the press the #3 key three times to get a "C" etc type typing. I switched to a smart phone and it helped tremendously in doing the job and I liked it for personal use. I used it then as an all in one camera, faster/easier texting device, GPS navigation replacement, calendar and phone. I added a pill look up app, Hero 911, Radar now, and a couple other apps. I never used it for social media (almost no one at my agency had a FB account after a negative incident) and rarely for email or internet search.

Obviously they can be great tools if used wisely and significant impediments and safety risks if not. Finding the balance is more personal than policy but both are important. The use of the devices for scanning VIN, Electronic citation issuance,licenses and the like will likely mean more use for the job.

It is important to separate job use from personal as if you take a photo to be used for evidence purposes the personal phone can wind up in the hands of prosecutors and defense lawyers. Our legal council addressed this at a legal update and personal use went way down as it should.

[scjbash]

By-the-by. They kept saying in the article that they didn't know if the idiot fired at the cop, but in the video, there is a moment when smoke comes from the muzzle of his gun coinciding with the sound of a shot. So, whether he did at the beginning of the dance or not, he did try to get a round off at the officer.

I thought it was smoke from the gun the first time I watched it. When I re-watched it I noticed the puff is from the officer shooting the window next to the guy.

[Rex G]

I did not click on the link, because visiting the Houston Chronicle’s site tends to result in infections/infestations in my electronic devices. Living in the Houston area, I used to visit their website daily, but had to stop.

I strongly agree that using mobile devices, while on patrol, can be hazardous to one’s health.

[Stephanie B]

This seems to be appropriate:

24934

[camsdaddy]

Nevermind

[andre3k]

My cell is about as important as my MDT. I frequently use the GPS to get to calls and but mainly it's a tool I use to disseminate information to my squad. We use the groupme app to set up briefing locations, exchange warrant info, post up photos of suspects, etc. It's the fastest way to get information to 12 guys at the same time.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

[KPD]

The smart phone helps me in lots of different ways.
I can screenshot lab reports and send those to the DA’s office and/or Officers when they need them. It has helped me lookup various chemical processes in the field. The video camera is handy for recording interviews in the field. Sometimes Officers will be on calls and are unable to adequately describe what they are looking at, if they can safely take a picture and send it that helps tremendously.

However, just like anything else, the smartphone has to be used responsibly. I see Officers all the time are texting, chatting, recording or doing who knows what when they should have their head up and paying attention to their surroundings. On a call is not the time to be posting on IG or FB.

We talk about criminals broadcasting their entire lives on FB. Police are just as bad in many instances.

[Dagga Boy]

Pagers. Wow, Tom can we get an Old English Font for old school posts ?

Actually, it was the pager and a bag phone for really high speed.....

[Sherman A. House DDS]

Actually, it was the pager and a bag phone for really high speed.....

We still have pagers in rural TN. You’re REALLY bomber if you had an alphanumeric pager back in the day!


civiliandefender.com

[HCM]

Actually, it was the pager and a bag phone for really high speed.....


I had both. The bag phones were great out in the brush. Crazy strong signal.

[Bobcat]

I had both. The bag phones were great out in the brush. Crazy strong signal.

And the speaker phones were super loud

[Hambo]

You’re REALLY bomber if you had an alphanumeric pager back in the day!

We were issued alphanumeric pagers for SWAT but the LT that programmed them would not add news, sports, etc. So I found out from a dude on another department how to program them and added all the extras to mine. :cool: You could also send pages through the website of the company. Person or persons unknown abused this service and sent fake pages with the FBI field office number and an urgent message to call. ;)

[blues]

We were issued alphanumeric pagers for SWAT but the LT that programmed them would not add news, sports, etc. So I found out from a dude on another department how to program them and added all the extras to mine. :cool: You could also send pages through the website of the company. Person or persons unknown abused this service and sent fake pages with the FBI field office number and an urgent message to call. ;)

We had several folks thrown under the bus for over the air hijinks. (Some were classic.)

The best were the "Chinese fire drills" necessitated by working with Miami-Dade, City of Miami, FDLE and BSO...where we needed to have three sets of phones and multiple agents / officers in a car to communicate properly (especially with the handie-talkie enabled phones) so everyone would understand the QSL / QTH lingo of the locals and the 10 codes that we used...in addition to the fact that none of the equipment was compatible. (Since we rarely had enough spares to go around for everyone to utilize the same gear.)

[psalms144.1]

Hey, my last assignment in the Army, I had a cellular Secure Telephone Unit (STU) - basically a shoe-sized flip phone with an encryption device built in. It was the shizznit, and I rocked that thing in a fanny pack off duty when walking around Miami...

[blues]

Hey, my last assignment in the Army, I had a cellular Secure Telephone Unit (STU) - basically a shoe-sized flip phone with an encryption device built in. It was the shizznit, and I rocked that thing in a fanny pack off duty when walking around Miami...

I forgot about the STU until you just mentioned it. I remember that it was a big deal in the office who was allowed access.

[MD7305]

I was issued a Samsung Galaxy as a work phone. My phone is my MDT. It's used for NCIC checks, complete reports, warrants, affidavits, traffic citations, take photos for my reports, communicate with my partners, dispatch, etc. It's extremely handy and fits in my back pocket. Most importantly it keeps me from having to use my personal phone for any work purpose and subjecting it to discovery.

I noticed the phone when I watched the video. I hadnt seen any video prior to the officer putting his car in park but my immediate thought was that agency must use their phones to do ncic checks, etc. I've ran plate checks on my phone just prior to stopping a vehicle so it didn't seem odd. The curse of an object occupying a hand and not getting lost under stress I think is a valid point and something I try to keep in mind during training and performance.

[AMC]

We issue the S6 Active. Durable phone. Used for communication, managing body cam video (Axon Body 2), accessing Department email, reports (you can do a report on it, if you have tiny fingers and good vision), and soon, traffic citations (e-cite app). You can check DMV and mugshot photos, take photos, etc. Actually pretty handy devices. A few years back, when we first got them, we had a juvenile escape from the Juvenile Justice Center. Old protocol was to obtain a photo and run it down to the operations center, who would prepare the bulletin. I just photographed the mugshot and emailed it to the whole department. Kid was in custody 29 minutes later.

As for using the phone for ANY function while driving...it would violate our policy and be a bad idea, in my opinion. MDTs can be distracting enough.