Muscatine

I can also tell you from experience that the vast majority of time officers are on their cell phones returning calls from citizens and other police departments and making follow-up calls concerning cases. They don't have the luxury of having a desk and office to do that type of thing. The patrol car IS their office and their cell phone is their "desk" phone.

Ok heres a few items of local interest:

First the Police Dept. No freakin way everyone is ever going to be happy with the cops. Some folks look at them with respect and some folks look at them and think by watching tv they are smarter than the cops are. I can tell you our PD and SO are two of the best agencies you will ever find. They are good at what they do and do quite well with the dollars that you and I provide. Whime all you want about cell phones, gangbabgers etc..but I can tell you--They are a great bunch of men and women and do a great job. NO dept is ever going to stop crime. That is NOT what they do. They try mightilly but their job sadly involves to responding to calls after the fact. Unless and until people decide to stop acting like a$$holes, we will always have crime.

Local eatries-Ate at the Tai place last night. Wont do that gain. I love Tai food and what they served was cold, tasteless and the service totally sucked. Yes I let them know. No more of my $$$ is going to them.

The local pet store. I have already posted my thoughts on these folks so I wont belabor the point.

The current mayor does just what a mayor is supposed to do. He shakes hands and guides the city council. It may be time for him to retire but I dont think so myself.The city mgr is the real boss of most of what goes on with the city.

Kind of interesting tha Bidwell Rd is getting so much $$ spent on it given the condition of the rest of the city streets. Guess money talks and the rest of us bump along on rutted streets.

Hows that for local for now?

My point tlou is this...cell phones are a distraction ,they are NOT a piece of equipment issued by the dept.....they wear radios...that is how they communicate with the public safety building...they miss out to much when they are glued to thier phone...the states want to ban talking on cells because of the distraction........so when an officer is supposed to be driving around paying attention to whats going on around him in an effort to stop law breakers..its not happening while they are focused on driving and the conversation they are carrying on.....i havent had a bad experience with any of the cops here in town...i have had a bad experience with a deputy BUT i still have more faith in our sheriffs dept. than i do with the police .........besides the police chief was part of the panel with kas kelly and others that  decided to fine the victims of graffitti

So very many times the police that you see talking on a cell phone are talking to other officers. It is secure in that the scanner folks cant her what is going on. Yes folks do have scanners that can pick up the MPD traffic. I can tell you they use them for official business many, many times. The PD supervisor has one issued by the city just for this reason. Get over it. The use of a police radio is just as distracting as a cellphone. I can tell you from exoerience that everything that is going on in a squad car makes it a very long day sometimes. There are several rado frequeincies to monitor, a radar to pay attention to and JQ Public and bad guys to look out for. A cell phone is the least of the issues in a squad car. Yes it is another thing to look out for, How do you think it is going to be when they start using in car computers all the time?