The cellphone has now become the most helpful tool for cops investigating any sort of offence. They could crack several cases by building up leads from the phone. So, I’m sure the first thing that would be on the minds of the sleuths on the trail of offenders could be to get hold of a SIM belonging to them. Once they are able to lay their hands on that marvel of technology, the case starts getting cracked. They next call the cellcom and ask for the complete call history for that number. This leads them to facts such as where the caller was at a particular point in time, who did he call, who called him etc. Invaluable leads.
Sure, criminals, whether habitual or not, also now know this all too well. So, we can expect them to leave fewer cellular trails, by limiting the use of mobiles. However, the police still has the advantage of asking cellcoms. Even if they are unable to trace the SIMs, they can right away ask the cellcoms to get the number of the guy, by his name, and track his calls.
The cellphone trail helped the police nab even abductors, by identifying their exact location, based on the GIS capabilities of cellular networks. You are always watched by a cell tower or a couple of them and that is the end of it. Quite a few criminals or offenders, unaware of this, walk straight into the police net.
Yes, the phone has turned out to be most valuable, efficient aide of sleuths. Move over, Dr.Watson !
But, there is a dangerous flipside, from the citizen standpoint. If you hold a cellphone, you could be tracked, theoretically. We don’t know if they are doing it anyhow, already. This is apart from the actual eavesdropping into phone calls, which has been there even in the plain-old-telephone (POT) days. The government has a small army, mostly of women, whose only job is to monitor the airwaves. They are equipped to snoop on any call. Yes, no wonder India got the ‘distinction’ of being ranked 10th on the list of highly surveilanced states. The Big Brother is watching you.



