Remember Beepers? N.J. Lawmakers Want Outdated Ban Repealed

Remember pagers? These New Jersey lawmakers do.

It was 1989 – the year Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was first released in theaters – when the New Jersey Legislature first banned the sale of beepers to people less than 18-years-old. Alleging that students were using beepers to “run drug operations,” as part of their beeper ban, state legislators also made it a disorderly person offense for kids to bring a paging devices to school.

But earlier this week – decades after pagers went the way of the dodo – Garden State lawmakers are trying to repeal the outdated pagers-in-school ban, calling it “futile.”

“In today’s digital world, where students are taking smartphones and other technologies to school, keeping a law on the books that bans pagers in school seems futile,” said the bill's co-sponsor, Senator Jim Whelan (D-Atlantic County). “The technology has become obsolete, with some exception for doctors and other emergency personnel, and social dynamics have changed so significantly that it no longer makes sense to keep the law.”

Perhaps showing that old dogs can indeed learn new tricks, the beeper ban’s original sponsor, 72-year-old Senator Ronald Rice (D-Essex), agreed to co-sponsor to the new bill.

“In the late 80s and 90s, pagers were not only disruptive in schools but they were often considered synonymous with drug dealing, and the law made sense back then,” Rice said. “Fast forward almost three decades and it’s no longer an issue. Schools now develop their own policies about cell phones on school property. The law has clearly outlived its usefulness, and it’s time to come off the books.”

The original law can be seen here. An amendment was passed in 1996 that allowed “active members of a volunteer fire company or first aid, ambulance or rescue squad” to carry a pager as long as they had a written statement from the chief of the volunteer fire company or first aid squad where they serve.

Photo: Flickr Commons

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