Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Constitutional Issues Invasion of Privacy

Hi folks,

It has happened to me. I'm really upset about this right now and would just like to get some views on what has happened and whether or not there's much that can be done about it.

Saturday night I went to a friends house. In my absence, at approximately 11PM my wife was awakened by the police - 4 CARS worth of police! They claimed that multiple 911 calls were made from our home phone. This is a land line that's been in my family for probably over 25 years.

So I was not there, my wife was asleep and our room-mate was in his room(away from our home phone) minding his own business. Somehow, mysteriously, multiple, not just one fluke but more than one 911 call was made from my home phone allegedly.

They barged into my house to "have a look around" calling it "routine procedure". They knocked on my room-mate's door, they scared my wife and let themselves into my home all based on these supposed 911 calls. I'm sorry but I'm not buying it.

There is a very strong police presence in my hometown, always has been. That is why it has remained a quiet, relatively safe place to call home. I think that we have been violated. I believe the police have overstepped their bounds. It's one thing to maintain a strong presence but barging into private homes and making what appear to me are false claims is something different entirely. I'm sorry but I'm just not buying into the 911 story.

So to me it boils down to three things:

1. Either someone was tapped into my phone line
2. Or my caller ID which has worked all these years has suddenly gotten mixed up with somebody out there who really needs help.
3. Or for SOME reason the police are interested in what's going on in my house.

Trust me, my life is pretty boring by law enforcement personnel standards. I'm just a regular working stiff paying my mortgage, trying to have a little fun here and there and not make any waves.

This is all very unsettling. If they have reason to want to poke their noses into my personal life, I'd like to know why. If this is somebody's idea of a prank, I'd like to know why there apparently is not a problem with that. That would be a criminal act right? I mean if I was a cop and I got dispatched to somebody's residence but the people there said they did not make the calls(remember - multiple calls they claimed), I think I would like to know what the heck was going on.

Again, I was not there and I'm glad that I wasn't because I probably would have ended up in jail for refusing to let the police into my home. I'm still gathering the facts on this one but I'll tell you right now it stinks.

At the very least, we have a public safety issue and further there may be something more sinister at hand and it's not making me feel very "warm&fuzzy". I'm just interested to learn what some of you think about all of this.

Living in The Police State

Ha! It gets better, or worse, depending on how you look at it... I just heard from my room-mate. He was in his room playing his acoustic guitar when he heard the knock on his door. He did not answer. Next thing you know a female cop barges into his room shining a flashlight asking him what *he's* doing there. What *he* is doing there. I'm sorry but I would have been thinking "what the hell are *you* doing here?"

This is bad - REALLY bad.

I'd like to hear from some of the lawyers on this board.

Maybe I'm overreacting. Maybe I spoke too soon. I would have never believed it unless I saw it for myself. Apparently, there have been problems with "old cordless" phones with dying batteries actually calling 911. I found multiple links giving creedence to this scenario. So as soon as I get my phone records, I'll expect to see those calls. This is a new phone though and I don't know what they mean by "old" cordless phone. This would be a strange coincidence if it is indeed what really happened. First thing I do when I get home is unplug that phone!

So the phone company says 911 is a free service so they don't keep track of 911 calls.

Checking the phone in question, I found numbers I had dialed weeks ago as I don't use this phone much at all. But not one trace of a 911 call though!

Even though I did find links to support this theory of the malfunctioning phones, they were all pretty vague. Supposedly, the phones that caused these problems were "old" and the manufacturers have, since the early 90s, put safeguards in place to prevent this. This is a new phone! And, I never saved any numbers to memory.

It looks like all I have to go on is what the police say.

Seems to me, if a 911 call originates from one's residence, one should have the right to see a record of it.

You have the right to see records of calls made from your phone. Further, the police have limited right to enter your home even if a purported 911 call has been made. They have to have a good faith belief that a crime is in progress, not that a call has been made.

The transcript of any such call should still be available with 911 btw

Who would I get that transcript from - the 911 dispatcher?

Not sure

It could easily have been a prank: Most houses have a phone company line connection box mounted right on the outside of the house. (These boxes are rarely locked.) Anybody could use a standard phone connected with alligator clips to the red and green phone wires to make a call (or to listen in or intercept your calls). People in the house would never know it unless they tried to make a call while it was happening. Put a lock on your connection box, or build a lockable wooden box around it to deter this.

This could also be done with some older wireless phone systems, if the prankster had a phone from the same type of system. My first wireless phone could access its base station from over 500 feet away. If you ever hear other conversations on your wireless phone, then it is vulnerable to this type of hijacking. Get a digital phone that uses scrambling!

There are many services available who offer caller ID spoofing as well.

However, I don't think it's very likely that anybody was tapped into my land line or spoofing my caller ID though.

Your point is well taken though. That's why I never gave out any sensitive info over the cordless phone.

There was a time when the 4th Amendment was part of the Constitution. But our friends in the Executive branch of government have been dismantling that provision. Looks like maybe that part of "just a piece of paper" may have been ripped out. Good luck! Call the local TV station that likes to play guardian of the oppressed and get them to investigate. Unless their in the local government's pocket.