Derrick Marshall is a private investigator with 29 years of experience in the industry. As part of his work he frequently listens to his police scanner focusing on the Springfield and Greene County, Missouri area. One night while listening to the police scanner app on his cell phone Marshall realized that in their public communications, the Springfield Police Department, Greene County Sheriff’s Department, and Springfield-Greene County 911 Emergency Communications were broadcasting the social security numbers, along with other sensitive information, of citizens they came in contact with.
Astonished by what he was hearing Marshall began listening in his spare time to the scanner to determine how much of a problem this was. In under two weeks he had documented 10 incidents of social security numbers being broadcast over the air. Using a recording feature on the app, Marshall logged audio recordings of the transmissions and compiled them on flash drives, before attaching them to complaints he prepared with the assistance of Civil Rights Attorney Stephen Wyse.
The complaints, which were recently delivered to the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, as well as the offending agencies, listed the following as laws violated.
*Drivers Privacy Protection Act 18 U.S. Code § – Prohibition on Release of Certain Personal Information From State Motor Vehicle Records
*Missouri Revised Statutes 610.035.1 State Entity Not to Disclose Social Security Number, Exceptions
*Missouri Revised Statutes 32.057 Confidentiality of Tax Returns and Department Records – Exceptions – Penalty For Violations. (Class E Felony)
Derrick’s complaint lists numerous ways an identity thief could victimize you with the information they obtained from a law enforcement public dispatch channel.
“From opening a credit card, to buying a car, renting a house or condo, opening up a cell phone account, getting utilities turned on, applying for a loan, receiving medical treatment, filing false tax returns or stealing your tax returns, stealing a person’s benefits, claiming unemployment under your name, or ordering anything you can imagine off the internet, ruining your credit in the meantime,” Marshall’s complaint to law enforcement warns.
The complaint even alleges that terrorists could use your identity to gain access into the United States and secure facilities within, and conduct acts of terrorism or obtain the materials to do so.
Marshall believes that when an individual is contacted by police and doesn’t have an ID, the officer requests/orders them to provide their full name, date of birth, and social security number. The officer then reads this information to the dispatcher over the public dispatch channel, broadcasting it to anyone locally with a police scanner or police scanner app anywhere in the world. Marshall believes on some occasions the dispatcher can be heard reading back social security numbers and other information obtained from the citizen’s driving record.
“Many of these police scanner apps cost absolutely nothing and some allow you to record the audio directly to your cell phone or device. There are even websites that archive the audio recordings and charge for users to search through months of logged communications between dispatch and law enforcement agencies all over the world,” Marshall’s complaint alleges.
Read Derrick’s Blog Post on the Issue Here:
Marshall points out that other agencies utilize private channels, in-car computer terminals, and cell phones to communicate sensitive information. While he believes this may be a wide-spread problem among law enforcement agencies across the country, it can, and should be addressed.
“These agencies have the ability to communicate via other means, but in willful disregard to their privacy violations choose to use a public broadcast channel to communicate private and legally sensitive information,“ Marshall’s complaint reads.
Derrick is asking for any individual that believes they have had their private information publicly leaked by law enforcement to contact him via his website’s submission form (Listed below). He asks that you include the date, time, and agency involved.
Marshall and Associates currently has offices in Springfield, MO and Orlando, FL.
Need to talk to a Private Investigator?
Orlando, Florida Office
Phone: (407) 403-8786
Springfield, Missouri Office
Phone: (417) 863-7117
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