Who are you? Can you prove it?
 

Mike, at work, needed to get his van inspected, so he left at lunch time to drop it at the garage. On the way there a local Cop pulled him over because his inspection had run out.

The Cop takes his papers back to the cruiser, returning in a few minutes to ask Mike if he'd been to Texas. Mike said no and the Cop goes back to his car.

Another cruiser arrives.

The Cop comes back and asks Mike again if he'd been to Texas. Mike said no, and the Cop goes back to his car.

Another cruiser arrives.

The Cop comes back the third time and tells Mike his name keeps coming back "Hot". A person with that name is wanted in Texas.
So arrest, handcuff, police station, mugshot, fingerprints and cell. An hour or so later, after considerable questioning, they have a faxed copy of the mugshot and fingerprints for the Texas perp and decide Mike is not their man.

Mike is both releived and annoyed, so he asked the Cop what the Texas perp was wanted for, but they wouldn't tell him. He did say they questioned about credit and credit cards quite a bit.
So he asked the Cop if there was anything he could do to prevent this from happening again, to which the Cop said no, nothing except avoid the police.

Mikes name is not that unusual, although not Jones/Smith common. A 5 minute search on the internet showed 65 guys in Texas with the same first and last name. Half a dozen with the same middle initial and two of those in the same age group. I'd guess the search could be expanded to 50 states and come up with similar numbers.

Just with this one name, there could be a whole lot of people at risk of the same treatment, should they be in contact with the police, anywhere.
By extension there must be thousnds of names being posted by the 50 states, as wanted people, without much more info than the name.

You could be "wanted" by the police.:cop:

what really sucks is that now, his prints are known prints, and will be recorded in some fucking searchable database. for no reason. i thought cops had laptops in their cruisers. was there no photo? what photo did texas have to compare it to that they couldn't email the pa cops? shennanigans

Along the lines of LJ's comment, I can't believe they processed him and THEN interrogated. Is that SOP? Such a waste of time and money, although I'd much rather the police err on the side of caution.

Could the cop have checked how long his car has been registered in PA, versus how long that guy has been wanted in TX? Would that have done any good?

Ugh. Jail sucks. Hope I never have to go again.

Sure, he could easily prove he'd been a PA resident, but not that he hadn't been to Texas.

They faxed, the photo and prints from Texas, but it took some time to get it. We don't know how long ago they had put the name on the list so it wasn't as if this was a current hot case they were on top of.

To the clerk in Texas that has to bring the information up and send it, priority is what to have for lunch because they aren't sitting in a cell.
I would imagine email is not secure enough for official business in a small time police dept. I don't know what the Texas contact was, state, county or local.

They have to arrest him to transport him to the station, and mugshot/prints to compare to the Texas info. In PA you can demand the prints be destroyed if the charges don't stick, but no way to be sure they are. For mike it's a moot point, as he has a carry permit so his prints are on file anyway, but for others it would be a concern.

Mike did say they were entirely professional, throughout. :cool:

First of all, that was a dirty trick to play on your friend, Bruce. ;)

Secondly, prints seem like the easiest way to "exclude" Mike (as they say on CSI), but I'm not sure why they couldn't run his prints through the computer (like they do on CSI) and see if they get a match (like they do on CSI).

Thirdly, that's why we named our kids "djjeisme", "mmendbbeeeeeeeer", and "32123". :cool:

Welcome to the Brave New World of "guilty until proven innocent".

You have the right to remain silent until they kick the information out of your sorry ass, by the way.

Spexxvet, you watch too much TV.:lol:

I followed me all the way here from the beginning, so I must be me.

This reminds me of the thousands of "out of state felons" who were purged from the voter registry in Operation: Florida.

Well shit, now we need to think of a new name for our little girl.

You know Flint, that makes me wonder. If PA puts joe Blow on the list of felons, does Florida yank every Joe Blow from the roles? :confused:

xoxoxoBruce
 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...43295-2001Jun8

"...The reason so many wrong names ended up on the scrub list is that Florida ordered ChoicePoint to input questionably broad matching criteria into its sophisticated computer programs. According to various statements by ChoicePoint officials, the criteria were: First four letters of the first name. Middle initial. Gender. At least 80 percent of the letters in the last name. Approximate date of birth. Last four digits of Social Security number when available -- which was not often, since fewer than 10 percent of Floridians had that number on their voter registration forms. Certain variations were also programmed in (Willie could match William; John Richard could match Richard John)..."

Penn Jillette had the right idea. If his daughter ever shows up on the no-fly list or voter purge lists, you'll know it was deliberate!

I wonder how long it will be before we are all required to get scannable bar codes tattooed on our bodies. Or info chips planted just under the surface of our skin. Our grandchildren may have them already without our knowlege. Communism in progress. Shit.

Some hospitals attach RFID tags to newborn's ubmilical cords as a security measure (in this case, a part of them that will fall off anyway).