Editorial: Surely our police can go hands-free

Andrew Austin, Editor of Hawke's Bay Today.

Our story in yesterday's paper about a member of the public confronting a police officer talking on a mobile phone has raised the question of whether some of those tasked with upholding the law believe they are above the law.

It is an interesting question and before I get letters to the editor, yes I do know that police are exempt from the law that bans the rest of us talking while driving, if they are on police business. Debate over the issue began raging this week when a Napier man posted video footage on social media of him being confronted by a police man defending the fact that he had been on his phone while driving in Napier.

The man followed the police officer for a distance - with him on his phone all the time - and then beeped his horn which caused the policeman to switch his siren and lights on and pull the man over.

The video, which is on our website, is very interesting to watch, because the police officer is quite aggressive and very defensive as well. Police say they will look into the matter.

Officers are allowed to use phones in the line of duty, but if it is for any other purpose, then they can get fined just like the rest of us. The police officer told the man that he was allowed to use the phone.

It is a tricky one, because on the one hand police are the ones who lecture us about the dangers of talking on phones while driving, so it does seem a bit rich that they are allowed to do it themselves. However, on the other hand, if there is an emergency, you want police to be able to use all tools at their disposal as quickly and as easily as possible.

It does not appear that this police officer was in an emergency situation as his siren was not going and he was travelling at regular speeds.

It is these sort of things that irritate the general public - two sets of rules.

I have sympathy for both sides and believe there must be a simple solution to the problem.

I am not sure if police patrol vehicles are set up with hands free kits, but it would seem that this would be the obvious way to go. I am sure the taxpayer would not have a problem with forking out the money to pay for these to be installed in the police fleet.

Certainly it would seem to be a practical solution as it would allow the officers to drive and talk quite easily.

Whatever the solution, the officer's reaction was probably not the best and probably thrust this issue more into the public spotlight then it would have been if he had been more polite.