was your cell phone near the scene of a crime? police already know

JosephDredd

Gold Belt
@Gold
Joined
May 29, 2013
Messages
21,005
Reaction score
2
http://www.wral.com/to-find-suspects-police-quietly-turn-to-google/17377435/

20170308-homicide-warrant-p5-normal.gif


In the many months since Adrian Pugh was shot and killed at his home on Saint Albans Drive, Raleigh police had managed to piece together a few important details of his final moments.

In the early morning hours of June 1, 2015, witnesses heard Pugh in an argument. They heard multiple gunshots. And they saw a figure illuminate the ground with a cell phone flashlight before fleeing the scene as the sun rose over north Raleigh.

A year and a half later across town, a taxi driver named Nwabu Efobi was gunned down in front of the Universal Cab Company. Security camera video caught Efobi in some kind of confrontation with the shooter before the unknown man opened fire. The day before, cameras caught the same guy several times walking around the building with what appeared to be a cell phone at his ear.

Raleigh police say the cases are unrelated. But in March 2017, months after investigations began into both shootings, separate detectives on each case, one day apart, employed an innovative strategy in criminal investigations.

On a satellite image, they drew shapes around the crime scenes, marking the coordinates on the map. Then they convinced a Wake County judge they had enough probable cause to order Google to hand over account identifiers on every single cell phone that crossed the digital cordon during certain times.

In at least four investigations last year – cases of murder, sexual battery and even possible arson at the massive downtown fire in March 2017 – Raleigh police used search warrants to demand Google accounts not of specific suspects, but from any mobile devices that veered too close to the scene of a crime, according to a WRAL News review of court records. These warrants often prevent the technology giant for months from disclosing information about the searches not just to potential suspects, but to any users swept up in the search.

Reverse search warrant (p. 5)
View entire document on DocumentCloud

City and county officials say the practice is a natural evolution of criminal investigative techniques. They point out that, by seeking search warrants, they're carefully balancing civil rights with public safety.

Defense attorneys and privacy advocates, both locally and nationally, aren't so sure.

Full article at link, full of details. Well worth the read.

Keep in mind this new development is in addition to police recording you directly with fake cell phone towers and tracking you with fake cactuses.

EDIT:

Fake cactuses:


http://theweek.com/speedreads/554083/arizona-town-puts-hidden-cameras-fake-cactus-plants


Fake towers:


http://www.newsweek.com/what-cell-ls-those-ominous-phony-towers-268589
 
Last edited:
Blanket warrants are not constitutional.

This is not complicated. This wording is not ambiguous.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized
 
I did not register my cell phone in my name
 
a lot of innocent people are going to end up getting charges because of this.
 
What is the point of this? If there is a murder, or some other crime, checking a suspect’s phone records to put them at the scene of the crime is just tool that officers can use.

What are you trying to say, that if there is a murder, cops are going to pull the nearest cell phone tower and start knocking on the doors of people that were in that area? Ridiculous. If they know from security footage that the suspect used a cell phone to look for evidence, checking what cell phones were in that exact area, at that time makes perfect sense to try and find a suspect.
 
If someone's child goes missing I bet they'll just shrug their shoulders and say "can't help you that way", but if they want to use it against you that's ok - checking right now bro.
 
What is the point of this? If there is a murder, or some other crime, checking a suspect’s phone records to put them at the scene of the crime is just tool that officers can use.

What are you trying to say, that if there is a murder, cops are going to pull the nearest cell phone tower and start knocking on the doors of people that were in that area?
Ridiculous. If they know from security footage that the suspect used a cell phone to look for evidence, checking what cell phones were in that exact area, at that time makes perfect sense to try and find a suspect.

The article says they are doing just that.
 
What is the point of this? If there is a murder, or some other crime, checking a suspect’s phone records to put them at the scene of the crime is just tool that officers can use.

What are you trying to say, that if there is a murder, cops are going to pull the nearest cell phone tower and start knocking on the doors of people that were in that area? Ridiculous. If they know from security footage that the suspect used a cell phone to look for evidence, checking what cell phones were in that exact area, at that time makes perfect sense to try and find a suspect.

I'm all for checking a suspects phone records to prove either at the scene or his alibi checks out, the key difference here though is that they do not have a suspect. And they will blanket search any cell phone in the area and then turn that person into a potential suspect

I'm not comfortable that if I happen to be simply near where something went down, I can become a suspect and then have to prove that it wasn't actually me

4th amendment to me is clear that search warrants and the like need to be very specific so that a person is secure from unreasonable searches. This here, becomes a search on me for literally being in the wrong place at the wrong time

Again, I'm all for a specific search warrant to see where Jim Bob, suspected of murder, was at 11:08 PM when his girlfriend was killed. I don't like "See who all was within a few blocks of Mary Sue at that time and bring them in for questioning"
 
Sounds smart by the cops. Also sounds like an invasion of privacy and hopefully it's ruled to be illegal.
 
We knew about this in 2012, but I was just a conspiracy theorist.
 
I did not register my cell phone in my name

Has that phone spent a good amount of time connected to your home wifi?

Accessed your email or bank accounts?

Received messages with your name in them? Have pictures of you?

I don't know if they can and do track these things but from my understanding of the technology I think it's very possible to do so.
 
Has that phone spent a good amount of time connected to your home wifi?

Accessed your email or bank accounts?

Received messages with your name in them? Have pictures of you?

I don't know if they can and do track these things but from my understanding of the technology I think it's very possible to do so.
No, no, no, and no. It's a basic Nokia with no wifi and no camera.
 
Back
Top