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humanitarianism vs. greed
Txs
Member Posts: 17,809 ✭✭✭
Time for a short rant.
I've had incidents where cell phones have been taken during robberies by masked, armed gunmen who'd just ran out the door five minutes ago and the provider refuses ping the phone's current location with the owner standing by to provide necessary ID conformation info. Very frustrating when you're standing there face to face with the victim.
This incident worked out okay, but serious potential exists.
Verizon Willing To Let 62-Year-Old Man Die Unless Cops Pay $20 Of His Overdue Bill
Times Reporter
CARROLLTON, OH
23 May 2009
A 62-year-old Carrollton area man was found unconscious and unresponsive Thursday morning during an intense search overnight by Carroll County sheriff deputies, an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper and the patrol's airplane.
Two K-9 units, several fire departments and 100 individuals on foot also were involved in the search for the man, who Sheriff Dale Williams said fled his residence on Kensington Rd. after a domestic disturbance call to deputies.
The man, who was treated at the scene by emergency medical technicians, was taken to Aultman Hospital and released Thursday afternoon.
Sheriff Sgt. Ron Clapper and firefighters found the man about 1 a.m. after 11 hours of searching in an area just north of Augusta, including Manfull Orchards, where there is a Verizon cell phone tower.
Williams said he attempted to use the man's cell phone signal to locate him, but the man was behind on his phone bill and the Verizon operator refused to connect the signal unless the sheriff's department agreed to pay the overdue bill. After some disagreement, Williams agreed to pay $20 on the phone bill in order to find the man. But deputies discovered the man just as Williams was preparing to make arrangements for the payment.
The sheriff organized the search party for the man after deputies responded to the domestic call Wednesday at 2:21 p.m. at the Kensington Rd. residence. The sheriff said the caller said the man was destroying the house and breaking windows and other items.
But when deputies arrived they were told the man had fled and had taken several bottles of pills.
"I was more concerned for the person's life," Williams said. "It would have been nice if Verizon would have turned on his phone for five or 10 minutes, just long enough to try and find the guy. But they would only turn it on if we agreed to pay $20 of the unpaid bill. Ridiculous."
Williams said he doesn't know how close the situation was to becoming a tragedy because he's not a doctor, but he thinks the man's condition was very serious.
I've had incidents where cell phones have been taken during robberies by masked, armed gunmen who'd just ran out the door five minutes ago and the provider refuses ping the phone's current location with the owner standing by to provide necessary ID conformation info. Very frustrating when you're standing there face to face with the victim.
This incident worked out okay, but serious potential exists.
Verizon Willing To Let 62-Year-Old Man Die Unless Cops Pay $20 Of His Overdue Bill
Times Reporter
CARROLLTON, OH
23 May 2009
A 62-year-old Carrollton area man was found unconscious and unresponsive Thursday morning during an intense search overnight by Carroll County sheriff deputies, an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper and the patrol's airplane.
Two K-9 units, several fire departments and 100 individuals on foot also were involved in the search for the man, who Sheriff Dale Williams said fled his residence on Kensington Rd. after a domestic disturbance call to deputies.
The man, who was treated at the scene by emergency medical technicians, was taken to Aultman Hospital and released Thursday afternoon.
Sheriff Sgt. Ron Clapper and firefighters found the man about 1 a.m. after 11 hours of searching in an area just north of Augusta, including Manfull Orchards, where there is a Verizon cell phone tower.
Williams said he attempted to use the man's cell phone signal to locate him, but the man was behind on his phone bill and the Verizon operator refused to connect the signal unless the sheriff's department agreed to pay the overdue bill. After some disagreement, Williams agreed to pay $20 on the phone bill in order to find the man. But deputies discovered the man just as Williams was preparing to make arrangements for the payment.
The sheriff organized the search party for the man after deputies responded to the domestic call Wednesday at 2:21 p.m. at the Kensington Rd. residence. The sheriff said the caller said the man was destroying the house and breaking windows and other items.
But when deputies arrived they were told the man had fled and had taken several bottles of pills.
"I was more concerned for the person's life," Williams said. "It would have been nice if Verizon would have turned on his phone for five or 10 minutes, just long enough to try and find the guy. But they would only turn it on if we agreed to pay $20 of the unpaid bill. Ridiculous."
Williams said he doesn't know how close the situation was to becoming a tragedy because he's not a doctor, but he thinks the man's condition was very serious.
Comments
Can you hear me now?
I also told her once that the dead guy doesn't care about his privacy rights or his phone service any longer.
We had to wait on a necessary subpeona and sure enough, the last calls he took? From the guy who later admitted to killing him and another guy.
I hated it, it cost a couple of days, but thats the way the rules are.
I once was working on a case where a guy was murdered and we were trying to find who had called him right before he was shot. The phone provider would not give any information for privacy reasons. I told the girl in the local store, who could look up the information very easily, that the guy who owned the phone would want me to know, since it was probably his killer who had called him right before he got himself shot.
I also told her once that the dead guy doesn't care about his privacy rights or his phone service any longer.
We had to wait on a necessary subpeona and sure enough, the last calls he took? From the guy who later admitted to killing him and another guy.
I hated it, it cost a couple of days, but thats the way the rules are.
I dunno, I kinda agree with this one. There are a lot of crooked people out there willing to exploit other peoples privacy. I think a subpeona was warranted in this case.
Would someone please enlighten me about this "tracking" feature on a cellphone? Thanks, Joe
triangulate between the closest towers the phone is accessing for signal. I bet you didnt know that it is possible to turn a cellphone on remotely and "hot mike it either" [V]
I just wish there was another way to get the information immediately, no problem at all getting the subpeona, but I still had to wait a couple of days to get the records.
Why are rules in place? Because your right, people just can't act right and they abuse power from time to time.
I would for sure see how someone over the phone could question intentions, but when I show up to a local store with a subpeona in hand, there is no question about who I am or what I want.
But hey, those are the rules, and had the information been obtained illegally, then we would have had a problem in court, so I don't mind waiting. Gotta play within the rules.
What I'm getting at is, if he were unconscious, his cellphone would have been turned on, and he located. I wonder if the State Ranger teams routinely use it for missing hikers? Perhaps I'll find out.
Anyway, thanks for the info. Joe
I don't know if I would call it greed. Verizon wasn't asking for an additional $20 charge. All they were asking for was their due money.Did you catch that the phone only needed to be activated long enough to locate it and the person who owed them wasn't even the one making this request?
Consider that providers are required to insure all cell phones be capable of using 911 for whatever the user deems to be an emergency whether it's activated or not. That's the humanitarian factor. Now you have what was described to them by LE as a probable life/death situation involving a hundred people searching for 11 hours and they demand their $20 'due money' before simply reading a set of coordinates off a monitor.
Even from a cold business standpoint, does letting someone die seem like a way to collect a $20 debt?
towels are kinda scratchy too.......
Dang, beat me to it.[:(]
Anyone who needs to know where I am can send me a letter.
Doug
If I am not actively using my phone, I remove the battery.
Anyone who needs to know where I am can send me a letter.
Doug
Can't remove the battery in my iPhone...
[:0]