Talking on a cell phone while driving
will soon cost you $124. A new law bumps up the
existing cell phone ban from secondary offense to primary — meaning
that an officer does not need any other reason to write you up for
carrying on a conversation while heading down the highway.
There were exceptions to the law, however, one of which is if
the person holding the phone is badged and driving a car with
lights and sirens.
The Washington State Patrol, however, is rewriting its own
handbook in that regard. Its chief, John Batiste, believes his
troopers need to set an example.
“Using a hands-free device is a good idea for everyone,
including troopers,” Batiste said in a press release. “Every driver
has an obligation to be at their best while behind the wheel.”
Batiste added that he supports cell phone use by employees
because the state patrol’s radio
system can be monitored, and phones can provide a way to
communicate privately.
The state isn’t the only one to push for hands free devices. The
Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office has installed a hands free system
called Parrot into
nearly all of its patrol cars in the last six months, spokesman
Scott Wilson said.
It may be implemented as a policy at the sheriff’s office as
well. But as Wilson points out, the system, which broadcasts the
call over the car’s stereo, is “crystal clear,” and convenient.
“I don’t know why anybody would not use it,” he said.
Not all of the county’s law enforcement agencies are changing
policy. But the higher ups are asking for their officers to use
good judgment.
“We have not set any such similar policy requiring them to use
hands free devices, but we have suggested that they use good
judgment and talk on the phone without hands free devices only when
its safe to do so,” Port Orchard Police Chief Al Townsend wrote to
me in an email. “Most of our officers use their own personally
owned cell phones and have the hands free blue tooth type devices
already and use them while on duty just like they would on their
off duty time.”
Shawn Delaney, Poulsbo Police Department’s deputy chief, said
they too don’t have a policy. But he said they’re cognizant that
the public might not realize officers are exempt from the law, and
want to set an example in not using the phone unless it’s necessary
in the commission of their duties.
Tom Wolfe, Bremerton Police’s captain of patrol, said the
department also encourages officers to pull over for calls that
aren’t emergent in nature.
That said, there are circumstances — in progress calls and the
like — where the officer has no choice but to talk on a cell phone
while driving. The situation is so imminent that even going hands
free is too time consuming, he said.
“The need to convey information in some situations immediately
outweighs attempting to hook a phone up to any device,” he
said.
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