Info for street cops

Cell phones can record many many minutes, even hours of conversations. In light of this story out of 014 and the Meeks incident, more of us ought to be aware of this. Of course, everyone should conduct themselves professionally during a stop, after a stop and during processing. That being said, we've never let someone keep a cell phone if they are arrested. If they are with someone, give them the phone. If they have a car that isn't being towed, lock it in the car. It isn't that you are trying to be an asshole (most of the time), but we've heard of people calling from the back of a wagon and having their buddies meet them at the station and have their buddies take their impounded car before the tow truck gets to the location of tow. This seems farfetched, but suppose you grabbed someone important or dangerous on a BS traffic charge, and he calls his accomplices to ambush you? It's happened in South America and Europe. We want our prisoners going into the lockup and on to the County with as little hassle as possible and as little stuff that could possibly be used as weapons, escape devices or means of communication. They can use the phone in the lockup to contact their lawyers.