But this one doesn't involve gathering evidence from the phone.

Officer termporarily detains a suspect who is believed to have committed a crime and has other accomplices at large. Can officer temporarily take suspect's cell phone until the contact is over? Generally speaking, I think this is the high-tech equivalent of physically separating suspects for questioning, and can be justified by a reasonable desire to prevent suspect from interfering with the investigation by calling others to hide evidence, agree on a story, or come to the scene (officer safety concern in that last one). Also, since no evidence is going to be gathered from the cell phone, there is nothing to suppress. It sounds reasonable to me and I don't see any harm in it, but I would appreciate any thoughts or observations.

I think temporarily taking the cell phone to prevent its use in a manner that could endanger the officer (summoning acquaintances) would be similar to taking a knife during a detention - Officer safety. Officer should have specific, articulable facts to support his concern. Overall, if phone is not searched, I do not see a problem.

Any officer with any sense ought to limit suspects' use of cell phones while he's got them detained. This includes texting. I can think of a few dozen officer safety reasons, not to mention the possible destruction of evidence (depending on the scenario of course) and then just the plain old need to be efficient and avoid waiting on calls to be completed.

I'm not sure what it says about our evolving (?) culture if people out there really feel that their liberties are being heavily restricted by an officer that does this. But they'll manage just fine without that device in their hands for a few minutes. I promise.

Most of the time this can be accomplished by an admonition to "keep your phone in your pocket" or not to use it until the stop / detention's concluded. Anyone who violates that request is asking for it to be taken away, just like in grade school. But a more serious detention (or suspect) might well warrant greater precautions off the bat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxIjkBVEtyE

Easily argued "officer safety issue"