TERROR TECH

State and local police agencies around the country are clamoring for the authority to use call phone jamming technology. At present this technology is reserved for the military and federal law enforcement agencies. A recent article appearing in The Washington Post reveals the movement to expand the use of these devices to local police forces.

Many people unbeknownst to themselves wander in and out of cellular dead zones on a regular basis, primarily around the entrances of federal buildings and military instillations. These are generally permanently targeted locals. Local police agencies want to mobilize the technology, installing the devices in patrol cars and or having officers carry smaller devices.

The justification of allowing the expansion in the employment is primarily to combat terrorism but the nature of the application and the fact that it is in the very nature of asymmetrical combatants to constantly modify their tactics to account for and bypass new technologies, leaves one to wonder how, when and why such measures will in fact be utilized. The prospects for abuse are limitless, especially considering that it is standard operating procedure for police to confiscate the cell phones and cameras of witnesses of incidents of police criminality. If they now have the power to jam the transmission of incriminating photos before these cell phones and cameras could be confiscated it will certainly embolden them to further acts of brutality and murder.