Thieves Use Police Scanners to Nab Information
Police scanners are a valuable resource to law enforcement officials, EMS (emergency medical service) personnel and others who work in helping and protection capacities.
They also have a subsegment following of non-officials who listen in to see what’s going on in their town and county. Interestingly, it’s a fairly common hobby, according to reports, and only seems to be growing as it becomes easier and easier to obtain high-quality scanners.
Unfortunately, this availability has a downside: criminals, too, invest in police scanners, but not to keep tabs on society or to offer to lend a hand. Rather, thieves are wise to the fact that personal information—including, unbelievably, Social Security numbers—often traverse the police scanner waves for all to hear.
A Springfield Ex-Cop Weighs In
Missouri-based former police officer Tony Cascio was concerned enough to write in to the city of Springfield, according to an article posted on news-leader.com.
He said, however, that Police Chief Lynn Rowe responded that the police department “…felt that I made a good point, but they aren’t going to change their ways.”
Law officials told the news source that such identifying personal information is important and, at times, critical to making an identification and perhaps an arrest.
“(A Social Security number is) a valuable tool, a real key to identifying a person as to whether they have a valid warrant or not,” pointed out Sgt. Dan Bracker, who spoke on behalf of the Missouri Highway Patrol.
He added that the protection of innocent individuals could be at stake. “We don’t want to falsely imprison somebody without having that number.”
Inaccessible Technology May Work in Thieves’ Favor
In his statements to news-leader.com, Cascio claimed that within the space of 10 minutes listening to his scanner, he might have as many as 10 names along with Social Security numbers and birthdates.
But such information is the fastest way to track whether an individual stopped for a traffic or other minor offense may have outstanding warrants for his or her arrest, law enforcement officials responded.
And though the correct data can be obtained silently via computers mounted inside police cars, many times an officer is on foot and doesn’t have access to that technology, Chief Rowe point out.
New Software is Helpful, But Pricey
Meanwhile, with scanners accessible to the majority of the public, police officers attempt to conceal identifying code by, for example, altering the order of the numbers. And new encryption software is said to make scanning by non-authorized more difficult than in the past.
It’s just one more attempt toward protecting the public from identity theft which, though not foolproof, is at least a step in the right direction, officials told news.leader-com.
“Law enforcement’s doing the best they can,” said Jay Foley, executive director of San Diego, CA-based Identity Theft Resource Center. But he added that the expensive encryption and other software may be beyond the reach of many law enforcement districts. “I’m pretty sure that most law enforcement agencies will say (purchasing and using the newest encryption software) is something they can’t do.”
