Cadet Moses Hightower is….looking forward to the next Police Academy sequel.
While stopped at a redlight on Glenwood Avenue on Tuesday night, I noticed cop approaching behind in my rear view window. Nothing to fear, I wasn’t speeding but admittedly did have my phone out and was checking Twitter. Thinking about the upcoming law involving texting while driving, I got a bit nervous and quickly tossed my phone on the passenger seat. The law isn’t official yet, so I was safe.
I kept driving and stopped at the next stoplight. The cop sped up next to me. I looked over towards his car and happened to notice his in-car computer’s screen. The only reason I paid any attention to it was because I recognized, without a doubt, what was on his screen. The police officer was surfing Facebook, yes, that Facebook, while driving. The light turned green and he sped off in a hurry up Glenwood.
This isn’t an accusation or an attempt to condemn a cop for updating his status. We all have to let our friends know what we are doing and considering that there are now over 300 million FB users, I’m sure a good percentage of them are law enforcement officers. This is simple a question of the boundaries of this new texting ban. Would this cop’s behavior be considered an obstruction of this law? While many would definitely argue that computers in patrol cars are “needed”, should certain services be off limits while driving for them as well? Does any of this matter or is it simply another useless law, as one commenter put it.
And, while we are at it: Follow New Raleigh on Facebook...but not from your car, or cop car.
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