EXIGENT CIRCUMSTANCES FOR PING REQUESTS

[LBerfield]

Don't know if any of you have had this experience or not. Tonight we responded to an armed robbery where the victim's purse, wallet, and cell phone were taken at gunpoint, out in front of the victim's residence. We requested a ping on the phone, having learned that it was still on. T-Mobile stated that our circumstances did not fit their definition of exigent.

During my discussion with the legal compliance person about why we felt it was exigent, she stated that if we were willing to sign off on the paperwork to pay for the E911 Tool to be turned on, they would ping the phone. By the time I got the paperwork prepared and faxed to them, having obtained authorization from our Watch Commander, they determined the cell phone was off, which of course then made the ping moot.

Has anyone experienced this before? I'm dumbfounded that the legitimate request of a law enforcement agency during the investigation of a felony under the circumstances described was not enough for them. Any feedback appreciated...thankyou.

[Redcard]

I have found T-Mobile and Cricket to be the most difficult in obtaining information. The other companies we deal with are pretty good with helping us with customer information and cellular phone location.

[f6twister]

I'm guessing that their reason for denying your request was because the danger had already passed. Had the suspect kidnapped one of these people, I think it would have been handled differently.

I've only had one bad experience with attempting to obtain emergency help from cell companies and even that was corrected by simply calling a different number.

[NixleRep]

Not sure if this helps at all, but there is a fairly new company called NIXLE (http://www.nixle.com) that has quickly spread across the United States, mostly being used by Public Safety agencies. They have a deal with NLETS, the non-profit computer messaging system, to provide secure and authenticated messages. Nixle allows public safety agencies to communicate with local residents by cell phone, email, and the web.

Please check it out.

http://www.nixle.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixle

Thanks, sincerely,

NixleRep
NixleRep@gmail.com