Will Pre-Paid Phone Limits Aimed At Crime Fighting Inadvertantly Hurt Poor Texans? Will They Work?

State Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas), said during a news conference this week that he wants to file legislation to “go after” gangs by clamping down on pre-paid cell phone purchases:

Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, said during a news conference at Dallas police headquarters that gang members are able to coordinate their crimes on phones that they simply throwaway. Unlike conventional phones, police are unable to trace conversations and determine ownership of so-called pre-paid phones that are becoming increasingly popular for gang members to use to communicate with one another.

Carona and Dallas police chief David Kunkle said law enforcement officers are becoming increasingly concerned about the number of “transnational gangs” that are committing crimes throughout the state, many of them organized through the use of prepaid cellphones. The gangs are crossing the border of Mexico into Texas, where drugs and street violence have become more prevalent.

Of course, this sounds like a good idea. We all want to clamp down on gang activity. However, there are two flaws. The first is in the statement above: “Unlike conventional phones, police are unable to trace conversations and determine ownership of so-called pre-paid phones…”

That isn’t 100 percent true. Calls made with a pre-paid cell phone, and pre-paid cell phone records can be subpoenaed just like every other cell phone record. Yes, tracing ownership may be more difficult, but you can still trace, using towers the calls bounce off, roughly where the calls are being made.

The second problem is this:

Carona said that during the next legislative session he will introduce a bill that will require people to provide identification before they can buy a prepaid cellphone.

This is yet another hit on the poor. There are many poor Texans for whom pre-paid cell phones are their only means of communication, as they have either insufficient credit or no permanent address to actually obtain home telephone or regular cell phone service. In addition, the ID barrier will prevent many Texans who legitimately use pre-paid cell phones for communication from being able to get them. The argument here is similar to the one that goes with Voter ID.

It seems a bit of an overkill to require an ID to get a pre-paid cell phone. The same thing could be accomplished by requiring that pre-paid cell phone companies must collect the name of every person who buys their product in Texas, without the ID requirement. After all, if a gang member is going to use the cell phone for criminal purposes, then they’ll probably use a fake ID to purchase it anyway. And, what about the Internet? You can buy a pre-paid cell phone on the Internet. And, I’m not sure the Commerce Clause in the U.S. Constitution would allow the Texas Legislature to restrict the sale of pre-paid cell phones over the internet to Texas residents.

Clearly, it is no solution to this problem. It is just another thing that looks like a good crime fighting measure which really doesn’t amount to much.

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