


Sidekick cellular phones serial number#
In the case of truants, the procedures specifically require that oral permissionīe obtained to retrieve a serial number from the back of the phone to determine whether it has been reported stolen. Procedures for taking complaints for lost or stolen Sidekicks, including procedures for prisoners, and separate procedures for truants. He said theĭepartment was not targeting truants and that the accusations came from “irresponsible malcontents who do not work for the Police Department.” He said in a statement sent via e-mail:Ĭontrary to information circulated today, the New York City Police Department has neither directed the confiscation of cellular phones from truants, nor does it enter information about the truants into a database.īecause of the frequency of that T-Mobile Sidekick cellular phones are specifically targeted for theft - often the only property taken in robberies - the N.Y.P.D. Browne, the Police Department’s deputy commissioner for public information, issued a statement saying the 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care had mischaracterized the situation. procedure presupposes that merely possessing a T-Mobile Sidekick phone is grounds for a criminal inquiry. In addition to truant juveniles, the Sidekick program instructs police officers to confiscate phones and retrieve the private information from all individuals who are arrested and in possession of a T-Mobile Sidekick to circumvent constitutional protections as part of an ill-conceived antitheft program.” Is not a crime and we cannot allow the N.Y.P.D. The 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who CareĬo-founder, Marq Claxton, states: “This policy is fraught with danger by encouraging additional unnecessary police contact with juveniles. The IMEI number uniquely identifies and distinguishes the individual phone unit from others. has established a procedure that requires police officers who are in contact with noncriminal juvenile truants who possess a T-Mobile Sidekick phone to confiscate the phone and retrieve the IMEI numberįrom the mobile phone and enter it into an N.Y.P.D. The group said in a statement sent by fax: Browne said.Ī civil rights group, 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, held a news conference outside police headquarters today, arguing that the police tactics amounted to
Sidekick cellular phones serial numbers#
In both instances, the serial numbers are compared against lists of serial numbers of stolen phones, Mr. Number on the back on the phone if they decline, no further action is taken. Browne said, are being asked to show officers a serial Young people who are questioned for truancy, Mr. In response, the department has taken procedures to track cellphones confiscated from people who have been arrested. Theft” and are “often the only property taken in robberies.” Browne, acknowledged today that Sidekick phones - which also serve as digital music players and cameras - have been “specifically targeted for The Police Department’s top spokesman, Paul J. Now a different gadget - T-Mobile’s Sidekick line of cellphones and music players - appears to be a rising target in robberies in New York City, especially among younger people. In September, a study by the Urban Institute, a respected research organization in Washington, suggested that iPods were partly responsible for a nationwide increase in violent crime in 20.
