Law enforcement technologyDeleted text messages hamper police
The number of text messages grows exponentially; this year, people around the world will exchange five trillion messages; phone companies either no longer keep back up copies of text messages, or keep them for a very short period of time; police is worried that this policy will hobble future investigations
There are so many text messages being sent by cell phone owners – this year, five trillion messages will be sent around the world – that phone companies say they can no longer store them, or that they will move to store them for only a few days before deleting them.
The Columbus Dispatch reports that if the phone companies follow through, law enforcement will face a big problem. Retrieved text messages helped police forces to solve many crimes. Just one example: Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick denied having an affair with his chief of staff – and denied using public funds to pay bher for her silence. The Detroit police was able to retrieve thousands of text messages between Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, proving that the charges were true. Kilpatrick is now in jail.
Text messages may be stored on the user’s phone, but more and more phone companies will no longer keep back ups.
“We don’t keep them. Period,” Jason Gertzen, a spokesman for Sprint, told the Dispatch.
Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Nancy Stark wouldn’t discuss specifics with the paper, but said text messages are stored by the company “for a very, very limited period.”
