By:Jeff Lipton
Inspector Richard McGuire, commanding officer of the Fourth Precinct, said his officers have written more than 1,200 tickets for illegal cell-phone use since the beginning of the year, which is a 50 percent hike over the same period in 2003. Most of the summonses have been written in the Five Towns, he said.
Besides the Five Towns, the Fourth Precinct takes in Atlantic Beach, Oceanside, Island Park, East Rockaway, Lido Beach and Point Lookout.
Residents such as Barry Ringelheim, of Atlantic Beach, and Michael Fried, of Woodmere, are not convinced that enforcement of the law is being carried out. Fried recently questioned, in a letter to the editor, what good a law is if it isn't being enforced. He even suggested that New York repeal the law if its enforcement is being ignored.
"All over the Five Towns, people drive with one hand on the wheel and one hand on a phone," Fried said. "I've seen people driving with a cell phone in one hand and a cigarette in the other, spending their time deciding which hand to drive with."
Ringelheim said, "My observations to date are that people continue to use their cell phones illegally, yet I do not see the law being enforced. I have seen two people in the front seat, each on individual cell phones while one is driving."
In response, McGuire said that cell-phone law enforcement is up, and that police officers on patrol are taking the law extremely seriously. Government grants have been directed to the effort to catch cell-phone abusers. "I want to clear up the misconception that enforcement is not being done," said McGuire. "When I took over command of the precinct [over a year ago], one of my priorities has been quality-of-life offenses and vehicle and traffic law enforcement.
"We stepped up enforcement, and the public is getting the message," he added. "We have taken a very aggressive approach in the enforcement of the law. We send police officers out specifically to look for them."
The cell-phone law went into effect in November 2001, beginning with a grace period of a few months for New Yorkers to get used to the measure before the law was fully enforced and penalties imposed. The law states that a driver must have a hands-free device to talk on a phone while driving.
Nassau County has been strict about enforcing the law, leading most counties in New York in the writing of tickets, and the Fourth Precinct has led the eight county precincts in the number of summonses handed out. In November and December 2001, 239 summonses were issued in Nassau County. In 2002, 5,096 tickets were written. In 2003, the total jumped to 8,963. Thus far in 2004, from Jan. 1 through Sept. 10, Nassau County police have issued 6,662 tickets for cell-phone abuse. Offenders face a $250 fine.
"By now, people should be well aware of the law," said officer Mike Bitsko, a Nassau County police spokesman. "Last year there were almost 9,000 summonses written, so we're out there issuing them."
Bitsko said officers may be on other assignments or on emergency calls, which is why they may not stop to issue a ticket for a cell-phone offense. But officers are taking the law seriously and issuing tickets without hesitation, he said.
McGuire said it's no coincidence that since the law went into effect, and especially in the past year, traffic accidents in the Five Towns are down. The use of cell phones without hands-free devices drives the number of accidents up, as it distracts drivers from concentrating on the road.
