Unknown cell numbers

Aschenbach

Moral Marjorie
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A question for any telecoms or police experts out there. Imagine that someone went missing, but their cell phone was retrieved. If the missing person had a call logged on their incoming call register as "unknown number", at about the time the misper is thought to have vanished...obviously the police would want to know where the unknown call originated from. If a policeman called the network would they give that information up straight away? Or would some kind of subpeona/court order be required?

I would particularly like to know what the system in the U.S. is, thanks.
 

JulieHowe

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We've had several recent cases in the US, including a car that was stolen at gunpoint out of the driveway of a home, with two babies in the backseat, and the driver (the parent of the kids) was forced out of the car. There was a cell phone in the car, and it was equipped with a GPS tracking system. Verizon - can you say good customer service? was the cell phone provider, and they refused to cooperate with the police, citing privacy concerns, despite the fact that the hysterical mother and father gave their consent to have their privacy invaded.

I can't at the moment find the link to that story (which ended happily, as apparently the carjacker wasn't interested in becoming a kidnapper, and the kids were found unharmed), but here's a link to another news story, also involving Verizon. It took them three days to cooperate with law enforcement in accessing the GPS-enabled cell phone of a kidnapped woman, and by that time, the woman was already dead.



http://www.cjonline.com/news/legislature/2009-04-17/gov_signs_kelsey_smith_law
 

Horseshoes

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Yes, the police would want the number, tho simply 'gone missing' isn't enough to ascertain how much of a police search there would be. If someone isn't long gone, has a history of going walkabout or many other things that run a misper down the list of interest and effort, then the police response will not be an all-stops event.

In the US, cell companies tend not to hand over their records without a court order. Sometimes, court orders can be secured within an hour, but sometimes it can take days to obtain and then to serve. Forcing the company to open up after hours to effect the search (yes, someone's working there 24 hours, but not the right someone) is hard.

A couple of winters ago, a woman ran off the road in Seattle and no one saw her down-the-embankment car. She'd used her cell phone and accessing the call was critical to finding her. Hubby gave immediate permission to the police to use whatever records they could find but the cell co demanded a court order. She did live, though had a rougher time of it than she would have if the cell co had been more cooperative.
 

Maryn

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A few years ago, someone I knew only slightly at a screenwriting board posted a wonderful message about the reality of tracing calls. He worked tech support for a US phone company he did not name. Here's the part which seems to answer your question, with a shoutout to the author, mshust, whoever s/he is:
Any movie that states the wireless phones needs to be on in order to do a call trace is correct. However keep in mind that most, if not all, wireless carriers keep a call log of calls made to and from wireless number. All that needs to be done is the police would need a supena [sic] to see the call history. This information is usually stored for upto 1 - 3 months...
This was written in 2006. I'd be amazed if all cell carriers didn't log all calls by now.

Maryn, who'll take her cell phone with her when she disappears, just for in case
 

benbradley

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We've had several recent cases in the US, including a car that was stolen at gunpoint out of the driveway of a home, with two babies in the backseat, and the driver (the parent of the kids) was forced out of the car. There was a cell phone in the car, and it was equipped with a GPS tracking system. Verizon - can you say good customer service? was the cell phone provider, and they refused to cooperate with the police, citing privacy concerns, despite the fact that the hysterical mother and father gave their consent to have their privacy invaded.

I can't at the moment find the link to that story (which ended happily, as apparently the carjacker wasn't interested in becoming a kidnapper, and the kids were found unharmed), but here's a link to another news story, also involving Verizon. It took them three days to cooperate with law enforcement in accessing the GPS-enabled cell phone of a kidnapped woman, and by that time, the woman was already dead.



http://www.cjonline.com/news/legislature/2009-04-17/gov_signs_kelsey_smith_law

Speaking of The Great Corporate Devil, here's yet another story of a slightly different situation involving police and Verizon - police were searching for a missing man who was apparently suicidal. His phone was turned off due to an unpaid bill, and Verizon wouldn't turn on the phone signal until $20 of the bill was paid:

http://www.timesreporter.com/homepage/x862899385/Unconscious-Carroll-man-found-after-11-hour-search

Publishers might nix mention of an actual company name in a novel, especially when put in a bad light like this, but If I were a criminal I know what cellphone provider I'd use.
 
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Stijn Hommes

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If you need your fictional cellphone provider to give up the information you can give the investigators in inside source or someone pressure the company into cooperating more speedily of their own "free will".