# The ubiquity of cell phones in today's TV police procedurals **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [March 2, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018 "2025-03-02T15:24:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/1 "2025-03-02T15:24:21Z")
This is really mundane and pointless, but it has to do with TV, so I put it here. Also: I don’t really have a point, just wanted to share an observation. TV cops have come a l-o-o-o-ng way from the days when Lennie Briscoe had to run to a pay phone to check in with Lieu. I watch a lot of police procedural shows-- not just those set in the USA (currently watching a Swedish one)-- and the cell phone is practically another member of the team. Yeah, I know that we non-police also always have one stuck to our hand or pocket, but within that particular TV genre, it’s almost ludicrous how the cell phone has become dominant and possibly essential in the crime-solving process. There’s still a need for the smart, clever, experienced, insightful detective to bring their special observation and reasoning skills to bear, but they now have at their fingertips the ability to photograph evidence, record conversations, communicate instantly with the team, search ginormous databases, identify fingerprints, use GPS location, and _even make phone calls_, something Lennie couldn’t do from just anywhere. It makes you wonder how Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Lord Peter Wimsey, not to mention Brother Cadfael, managed to solve crimes without even a telephone-- or just barely one. Like I said, no particular point. Unless someone else can see one…? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/2 "2025-03-02T15:49:30Z")
I think it simply reflects the present reality, that police officers, like people in many professions, find cell phones (really smart phones) very helpful in their work. I assume there are specialty apps for police and forensic work? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/3 "2025-03-02T15:56:56Z")
It definitely reflects present reality, as I said, for us as well as police. I remember in the early '70s and certainly before that, thinking nothing of getting in the car and driving 5 hours across Texas not passing through very many towns, without a phone or any way to get in touch if something happened. Now I don’t even walk around the block without my phone in my pocket. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/4 "2025-03-02T16:04:45Z")
One of the things about police and detectives always using their cell phones that I started noticing a few years ago is that instead of being told information like a suspect’s address it would be texted to them. So the phones have now taken the place of carrying notebooks in which to write information. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/5 "2025-03-02T16:05:08Z")
Those kinds of technology advances may be the only thing keeping the police procedural from becoming as tired and worn out as traditional Westerns became in the 1960s. By the 1970s, the few new Westerns had their timelines advanced to later periods so they could include things like telephones, automobiles, machine guns, and even airplanes. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/6 "2025-03-02T16:08:30Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > So the phones have now taken the place of carrying notebooks in which to write information. They have also eliminated the need for extraneous dialog in the script. The audience doesn’t need to know the address or phone number, etc; only the characters do. When was the last time you actually heard a 555- number used in a film or TV show? ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/7 "2025-03-02T16:18:11Z")
Actually, that reminds me of something else. It used to be common for police officers to carry notebooks to make notes at crime scenes, either of things they saw or of information gathered from witnesses, which was later reported to a detective assigned to the case. Sometimes these notebooks were considered as evidence later in the investigation. While some police wear body cams which could serve the same purpose, they are far from ubiquitous. Can police use cell phones as recording devices? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/8 "2025-03-02T16:20:36Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Can police use cell phones as recording devices? Absolutely. I see a lot of police reports/files. Cell phones are used all the time for videos and photos. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/9 "2025-03-02T16:23:57Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Absolutely. I see a lot of police reports/files. Cell phones are used all the time for videos and photos. Would I be correct in presuming that these would be department-issued cell phones rather than the officers’ personal cell phones? I can see all sorts of problems with the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/10 "2025-03-02T16:26:08Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Would I be correct in presuming that these would be department-issued cell phones rather than the officers’ personal cell phones For convenience sake, almost certainly. It would suck to have your personal phone bagged as evidence at the whim of a public defender. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/11 "2025-03-02T16:26:36Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Would I be correct in presuming that these would be department-issued cell phones rather than the officers’ personal cell phones? I have always assumed that’s true, but I don’t recall every verifying it. By the way, cops are getting so used to having everything recorded, you sometimes see things you’d not expect. On one recording I heard recently the supervisor was complaining that the new guy was moving all the evidence around! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/12 "2025-03-02T16:34:24Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > Can police use cell phones as recording devices? For what it’s worth, you can see a cop showily doing this at the beginning of KNIVES OUT — where the whole point seems to be that _he’s_ routinely doing sensible things by the book while questioning each witness who might be a suspect, and all while the eccentric gentleman sleuth is, uh, flipping a coin in the background, maybe tapping a piano key? ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/13 "2025-03-02T23:55:24Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > It makes you wonder how Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Lord Peter Wimsey, not to mention Brother Cadfael, managed to solve crimes without even a telephone-- or just barely one. Those detectives had a lot fewer types of evidence and modes of investigation available to them. No DNA evidence, security camera footage, internet search history, etc. Without having to deal with all that extra stuff, the things they did have to manage become easier to manage without a peripheral brain. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/14 "2025-03-03T00:55:47Z")
I’m watching some Law & Order this Sunday afternoon. These episodes are from the Lenny Briscoe - Mike Logan era. No cell phones, no CCTV, no GPS, and DNA takes weeks to get results back. It’s kind of refreshing. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/15 "2025-03-03T01:43:53Z")
If you like that, check [out the unaired 1994 pilot of _24_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMLH_QyPTYM). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/16 "2025-03-03T23:32:22Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > instead of being told information like a suspect’s address it would be texted to them. That also means the writers don’t have to make up an address or phone number in the dialogue anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/17 "2025-03-04T01:13:21Z")
What teen movie was it where the doofus guy was hitting on a girl, then came back to his buddy and said, “she gave me her number: 555-1212!” ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/18 "2025-03-04T09:29:47Z")
I’ve been watching early episodes of _Columbo_ lately. No matter where he is, suspect’s house, vet’s office, heart doctor’s office . . . the phone rings, it’s probably for him. And in one episode, the fact that the murder victim didn’t usually direct dial but would have the operator put him through was a point of discussion. (Between the murderer and the victim, that is). ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/19 "2025-03-04T11:56:57Z")
I often date TV cop shows by the presence or absence as well as the type of phone the have (or not). I was watching one recently and the team had a partial reg No, make and model of a perp’s car (unfortunately a popular model) In an attempt to trace it they had several long drawers full of index cards to search through. Obviously set in the 60s/early 70s. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018/20 "2025-03-04T14:29:23Z")
Reminds me of a scene in the US 1960s _Dragnet_ TV series. Sgt Friday needs to find registration info on a car. Somewhere inside police HQ he steps up to a mechanical punchcard sorter & pushes a button. A big stack of punchcards go zooming through the machine & drop into different slots. He’s half-ass explaining this modern marvel of criminolgy to his sidekick when it drops 1 card into a different slot. He grabs it, gkances at it, says “Let’s go” and scene cut to them driving to the perp’s house. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ubiquity-of-cell-phones-in-todays-tv-police-procedurals/1015018.md?page=2)