I have a scenario in my novel set in current day Australia where my good guy is forced to hand over his phone to a bad guy. In return, he is given some kind of disposable phone. He is then set up for a crime (kidnapping, child found safe and well) and arrested. This means the phone he is arrested with is not one that's registered in his name (or actually, it might also be. But in any case, there's another phone out there that's registered in his name that isn't in his possession). While this is happening, I want my baddie to play with good guy's original phone and install some sort of gps tracking device in it - whether its a chip or some sort of mobile phone app - I'm thinking the latter will be less detectable. I know my two brothers have iPhones and use a Find My Friend app to track each other's location. I then want my baddie to go back and plant the phone as evidence at the scene, where the cops can find it. He obviously wants the cops to find it, but I don't want them to find it in the initial search, but one cop on his own a couple of days later. This leads to a number of questions:
1. Would the area be cut off to the public and for how long (will my baddie be able to go and plant the phone as evidence without being noticed)? It's at nighttime, secluded area of public park, I'm guessing cops would want to see how things look in the daylight.
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2. I'm guessing the phone will need to be off until the bad guy plants it to prevent it being traced through mobile phone towers. I'm also guessing this wouldn't go unnoticed by police if they tried calling the number while it was off. Could the phone be turned on without the cops realising? For how long would they continue trying to call/trace the number? If they have the guy in custody and he is found with another phone, is there really any need for them to call/trace it in the first place? How likely is it to be missed in the search of the crime scene? I mean to say if someone is arrested, the child is safe, how thoroughly are they going to be looking at the scene? I figured I could hide it under some park bark, shadow of the trees, nighttime and have it easily go unnoticed, but not if they're going to be trying to call/trace it.
3. Phone is found. Would the police consider it evidence they missed in the search, or planted evidence? If they were calling it noticed it go on/off, I'm guessing they'd consider it planted, but if they didn't notice, would it be a matter of missed evidence?
4. Are there many popular phone apps that allow you to trace your friend's phones? Would there be a way of telling when an app was installed on the phone, or when a contact was added to the app? In police terms, how much of a threat do these pose, or could such a thing also go unnoticed for say 36-38 hours? Would it be less detectable than some kind of GPS tracking chip? I'm guessing they would probably be more interested in the message and call logs.. but depending on how long they take to sort through..
Thank you so much for your help! Sorry if that's in any way confusing - it probably is! But as soon as I started thinking about it, each question would lead to a new question... =P
1. Would the area be cut off to the public and for how long (will my baddie be able to go and plant the phone as evidence without being noticed)? It's at nighttime, secluded area of public park, I'm guessing cops would want to see how things look in the daylight.
.
2. I'm guessing the phone will need to be off until the bad guy plants it to prevent it being traced through mobile phone towers. I'm also guessing this wouldn't go unnoticed by police if they tried calling the number while it was off. Could the phone be turned on without the cops realising? For how long would they continue trying to call/trace the number? If they have the guy in custody and he is found with another phone, is there really any need for them to call/trace it in the first place? How likely is it to be missed in the search of the crime scene? I mean to say if someone is arrested, the child is safe, how thoroughly are they going to be looking at the scene? I figured I could hide it under some park bark, shadow of the trees, nighttime and have it easily go unnoticed, but not if they're going to be trying to call/trace it.
3. Phone is found. Would the police consider it evidence they missed in the search, or planted evidence? If they were calling it noticed it go on/off, I'm guessing they'd consider it planted, but if they didn't notice, would it be a matter of missed evidence?
4. Are there many popular phone apps that allow you to trace your friend's phones? Would there be a way of telling when an app was installed on the phone, or when a contact was added to the app? In police terms, how much of a threat do these pose, or could such a thing also go unnoticed for say 36-38 hours? Would it be less detectable than some kind of GPS tracking chip? I'm guessing they would probably be more interested in the message and call logs.. but depending on how long they take to sort through..
Thank you so much for your help! Sorry if that's in any way confusing - it probably is! But as soon as I started thinking about it, each question would lead to a new question... =P