Police push ID links to prepaid phones

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.policeone.com/legal/articles/1694420-Police-push-ID-links-to-prep
aid-phones/

Police push ID links to prepaid phones

By Jim McElhatton
The Washington Times

CHICAGO - Victims in Chicago Police Detective Timothy J. Murphy's homicide
cases were leaving behind important clues: cell phones showing incoming
calls just before the times of death.

But the calls increasingly led to numbers dialed by prepaid cell-phone users
and that's a dead end, Detective Murphy explained in a letter sent nearly
two years ago to state and federal lawmakers, because phone companies
usually don't maintain the identities of the phone buyers.

"In the last several months, many of my homicide investigations have been
hindered due to the major obstruction that 'prepay' or 'pay as you go'
cellular telephones that litter the market cause," he wrote. "I am seeking
your assistance in introducing legislation to regulate this loophole." 

He's still waiting.

"Nobody did anything," the eight-year veteran of the city's homicide squad
said in a phone interview last week.

Although no bills are pending in Congress, legislation requiring photo
identification for prepaid-phone purchases is surfacing in statehouses
nationwide. The National Conference of State Legislatures is following bills
in Michigan and Georgia. Lawmakers in New Jersey, Texas and Pennsylvania
also have considered legislation.

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