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Texting by police?


Emergency Services Vehicles McHenry County, Illinois

Texting by police?

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
May 21, 2009


Lake in the Hills Police


Will any new law in Illinois that prohibits texting while driving also apply to police officers who drive patrol cars while operating the laptop computers mounted in the front seat area?

This photo of a Lake in the Hills vehicle with a large laptop on a mount is a good example of the distraction provided by a police department. Use, of course, is encouraged.

Do any departments require a driver to stop his vehicle before reading messages or before sending them? Yeah, sure...

A couple of years ago I watched a Woodstock Police car westbound on Calhoun St. in front of Stewart's Cleaners. The officer in the blue unmarked car was looking at the computer. He must have been, because the car wandered across the center of the road and into the oncoming lane before the driver looked up. Fortunately, he did not encounter an oncoming vehicle "by accident."




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