A photo posted to Facebook of a police officer using her phone while driving has outraged social media users.
The picture of the female NSW officer driving while holding a phone to her ear quickly drew attention after it was posted to Facebook on Tuesday afternoon.
‘Umm yeah just going to leave this one. One rule for them, one rule for everyone else,’ the caption read.
However, a NSW police spokesperson has claimed the officer did nothing wrong.
A picture of a female NSW police officer driving while holding a phone to her ear quickly drew attention after it was posted to Facebook on Tuesday afternoon (pictured)
‘It’s legal,’ the spokesperson said.
‘Police and all emergency services are exempt from that road rule.’
‘The driver of a vehicle must not use a mobile phone while the vehicle is moving, or is stationary but not parked,’ according to the Road Rules 2014 Legislation by the NSW Government.
Drivers are exempt if the phone was being used ‘to make or receive an audio phone call or to perform an audio playing function’ while inside a fixed mount for the phone.
The legislation states emergency vehicles ‘or police’ vehicles are allowed to use a mobile phone at any time.
The legislation states emergency vehicles ‘or police’ vehicles are allowed to use a mobile phone at any time
Despite this rule, many Facebook users hit out at the photo stating it was unfair.
‘Yeah official police business!’ one user wrote.
‘You can’t really tell if the vehicle is moving,’ another added.
However, some users were already aware of the exemption and jumped to the defence of the officer.
‘Legally police are allowed to talk on phones why driving,’ one user wrote.
‘Pretty sure you will find this is a NSW Police Officer. FYI, police are exempt from mobile phone legislation in any case,’ another added.