A curious issue popped up in last Sunday’s paper. The headline read: “Police get guidance on cell phones.” They’re not alone. Others in need of guidance are the lawmakers who made it illegal for motorists to use handheld phones and the people who responded by buying hands-free devices.

Quick recap: A citizen spotted a deputy sheriff at a stoplight talking on a handheld cell phone. After complaints, the department assured the public that its deputies would be better role models. Along those lines, the department is in the process of outfitting its vehicles with hands-free phones, such as Bluetooth, at $65 a pop.

Call it a triumph of public relations over public safety, because studies that were shoved under the noses of legislators show that hands-free devices aren’t any safer. It’s like switching from martinis to margaritas before driving home.

Now I know what many of you are thinking: You mean I went out and bought a new phone when the old one would’ve been just as safe? Yes, you did. But the good news is that you’re now legally unsafe.

A no-brainer. So how can it be that hands-free phones are just as risky? Two hands are better than one, right? Well, it turns out that what raises the risk isn’t the missing hand. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon recently used brain imaging to show that merely listening to a caller causes a reduction in the brain activity used for non-distracted driving. That, in turn, slows reaction times and leads to more mistakes.

Marcel Just, the lead author of the study put it this way: “You know the old TV commercial of an egg frying that said, ‘This is your brain on drugs,’? Well, this is your brain on cell phone.”

His study merely confirms what many others have shown: It makes no sense to single out handheld phones.

In a University of Utah study, driving simulators were used to gauge reaction times for people engaged in phone calls vs. drinking enough alcohol to exceed the legal limit. The drunken drivers fared just as well.

So, if you bought that hands-free phone for personal safety, you’d better pull over before making or taking a call. If you only did it to comply with the law, you’re all set.

Occupational hazards. It’s a nice public-relations move by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department to advise its deputies to holster their phones, but law enforcement is exempt from the law. By necessity, the police can do many things that are illegal for you and me.

Officers can speed, run red lights and commit all kinds of traffic violations. They don’t have to plug parking meters. They already multitask with radios and computers. They drive with high levels of stress, loud sirens and flashing lights.

So why does holding a phone at a stoplight bug people?