A Lesson We Can All Learn From

[Rudy]

OK, so I was working yesterday and there was a female walking down a small 2 lane highway in close to 100 degree heat. My partner and I pull up and ask where she was walking and if she wanted a ride. As we are driving her to her house, we get her name and DOB. Turns out she had warrants.

Lesson learned: Never voluntarily get into a police car when you might have a warrant.

[UNTFan23]

OK, so I was working yesterday and there was a female walking down a small 2 lane highway in close to 100 degree heat. My partner and I pull up and ask where she was walking and if she wanted a ride. As we are driving her to her house, we get her name and DOB. Turns out she had warrants.

Lesson learned: Never voluntarily get into a police car when you might have a warrant.

The IT person in me really wonders if Name and DOB is a unique enough identifier for something like taking a person in on a warrant.

Upon further review, it appears the answer is: No.

From http://www.policelink.com/training/article...staken-identity :

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decided a case that reaffirmed this ruling on August 14, 2006.

In this case, the plaintiff was arrested on an outstanding warrant. The warrant was for a “Margaret Irene Chapman” who was described as a black female, 5’4” tall and 210 pounds. The plaintiff was arrested at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when she presented identification that matched the description on the warrant including full name, date of birth, and sex. Her social security number matched except that the first two numbers were transposed. The plaintiff was one inch taller and forty pounds lighter than the description on the warrant. The Court noted that there were many similarities and one significant difference. This significant difference was that the plaintiff was a white female and the warrant was for a black female. The Court cited Rodriguez v. Farrell as precedent and held that, “given the totality of the circumstances, the arrest was reasonable even in the face of an obvious racial discrepancy.” The facts that make up the totality of the circumstances in this case were the following: the matching names, matching dates of birth, virtually identical social security numbers, and strikingly similar physical characteristics. Thus, the Court held that one material difference will not transform a reasonable arrest into an unreasonable arrest.

Scary.

Edited June 14, 2009 by UNTFan23

[KingDL1]

The IT person in me really wonders if Name and DOB is a unique enough identifier for something like taking a person in on a warrant.

I imagine they had her address as well, since they were driving her to her house.

[Rudy]

If there is any doubt, there are usually other things to identify the person. Address, race, sex, ht, scars, tattoos, and even social security number.

[UNTFan23]

If there is any doubt, there are usually other things to identify the person. Address, race, sex, ht, scars, tattoos, and even social security number.

There's another story in the first link about how someone how again closely matched a description on the warrant was wrongly arrested and immediately released once fingerprints revealed he was not the person the warrant was after. Since criminals have something to hide, they tend to lie, so warrants often have multiple aliases, heights, weights, etc, so it's possible for someone to be mistakenly identified as the wrong person.

Here is another story how someone was mistakenly arrested and held for 5 days.

For me what is most concerning is that many times when many identifying marks match, those that don't are then thought to be an error (for instance, race in two cases in this thread) and the arrest is made.

[emmitt01]

There's another story in the first link about how someone how again closely matched a description on the warrant was wrongly arrested and immediately released once fingerprints revealed he was not the person the warrant was after. Since criminals have something to hide, they tend to lie, so warrants often have multiple aliases, heights, weights, etc, so it's possible for someone to be mistakenly identified as the wrong person.

Here is another story how someone was mistakenly arrested and held for 5 days.

For me what is most concerning is that many times when many identifying marks match, those that don't are then thought to be an error (for instance, race in two cases in this thread) and the arrest is made.

So then your argument isn't really against the system which is used to identify suspects but rather with the lack of discretion and/or common sense employed by some officers. What was your point again?

[UNTFan23]

So then your argument isn't really against the system which is used to identify suspects but rather with the lack of discretion and/or common sense employed by some officers. What was your point again?

I only question using two relationships that both have a many-to-one possibility (many people can have the same birth date for example) is sufficient enough to make it a unique identifier.

[SCREAMING EAGLE-66]

hmmmm..

If there are about 20,000,000 people in Texas (non-kids anyway) , 10,000,000 more or less of either gender and 365 birthdates. then this means about 27,400 fit. Classified by ten year spans of age (means guessing within 5 years. now we are down to about 4500 people fit that description.. Once you toss in the name and there are 1000's of possibilites you don't have a lot of doubt unless the name is an extremely common one (Bill Smith). Using the about listed charactistics, size, ethic group then I would think you are close enough to perhaps arrest or at least hold for detention until a possitive ID is made.

Why in the world would she ever tell them her birthday??? name maybe, but birthday??

Me... I am one of a kind... no more is USA... less than 50 with my last name. .. I would be dead meat.

[EagleD]

OK, so I was working yesterday and there was a female walking down a small 2 lane highway in close to 100 degree heat. My partner and I pull up and ask where she was walking and if she wanted a ride. As we are driving her to her house, we get her name and DOB. Turns out she had warrants.

Lesson learned: Never voluntarily get into a police car when you might have a warrant.

So out of the kindness of your heart you gave her a ride.

Do you run the names of everyone that gets in your car?

[Rudy]

Since criminals have something to hide, they tend to lie,

Then you get them on false report to a peace officer. If they give fake identification name, then you can get them for failure to identfy

[Green P1]

What exactly was the lesson?

[UNTFan23]

What exactly was the lesson?

Don't get into a car with strangers.

[UNTflyer]

What exactly was the lesson?

91.2% of criminals are stupid. That's why they are criminal.

[cwb]

Cricket is a sport and an insect.

[Shuke-D]

Cricket is a sport and an insect.

Jiminy!

[cwb]

10-4

[Censored by Laurie]

91.2% of criminals are stupid. That's why they are criminal.

Your stats always make me smile while weeping

Cricket is a sport and an insect.

So is daddy long-(3rd)leg

[cwb]

Not to mention the other five. Lucky blood sucker. BTW, did you know that he,or she is one of the most poisonous spiders but their fangs aren't long enough to get the poison through our skin. Just ask the Antigua Cricket team.

[greenminer]

Not to mention the other five. Lucky blood sucker. BTW, did you know that he,or she is one of the most poisonous spiders but their fangs aren't long enough to get the poison through our skin. Just ask the Antigua Cricket team.

Is there a joke in there? The poison part is an urban myth.

[cwb]

No joke. Just frustrated that no one got my reference to Sir Allen Stanford on the Mexia thread. But, I rarely fall for urban legend so your news on the Grandaddy long legs is very depressing. I need to be held.

[UNTflyer]

Your stats always make me smile while weeping

It's a fact that 99% of my stats are half right.

[Rudy]

So out of the kindness of your heart you gave her a ride.

Do you run the names of everyone that gets in your car?

Yes

No. I run everyone I run into out there.

91.2% of criminals are stupid. That's why they are criminal.

True. Thats why I get so many laughs. Ask me some of my other stories sometime. Or Emmitt's.