wraps up its three-day stay at the Dallas Convention Center today, which means: There's goes the
Fear and Loathingcoverage I'd planned for months. But that's not important. What is? Yesterday's presentation by a 21-year vet of the Texas Highway Patrol, during which the great Dub Gillum explained to his fellow emergency responders that, sure, distracted driving's a bad thing. Only, he wasn't just talking about cell-phone-chatterers and civilian texters out on the open road.
- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of Dallas and help keep the future of Dallas Observer free.
Let's go to Firehouse.com's extensive wrap-up of Dub's provocative presentation:
When it comes to police cruisers, there are more distractions than ever before inside. "Cruisers today are like the Knight Rider car, KITT," Gillum said, recollecting a 1980s television show featuring a high-tech talking car used by David Hasselhoff for crime fighting.
"Gadgets in emergency vehicles are now seen as a peril," Gillum said, noting that some might dispute that, saying the technology is useful in police work and emergency responses for ambulances and fire apparatus. Gillum, however, is of the mind that computers in the cruiser are at least as dangerous.
"What are we doing typing on the computer in the cruiser?" Gillum said. "I'm a police officer, not a police communications officer. We pay good money for those people. We need to keep focused on what we do, not typing on a computer."
Keep the Dallas Observer Free... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Dallas with no paywalls.
