NCJ Number
210323
Date Published
2005
Length
181 pages
Annotation
This textbook offers an analysis of technical and legal issues surrounding attorney’s and law enforcement’s interface and interaction with communication service providers.
Abstract
Increasingly, law enforcement and legal professionals must seek records of communications from communication service providers in order to further their investigations. This textbook is designed to present legal and law enforcement professionals with informative and clear information about how telephone companies work, including their networks and operations. The topics addressed include local, long distance, and cellular services; private phone systems; 911 systems; telephone fraud; pay phones; customer premises wiring; and emerging technologies such as voice over the Internet (VoIP). Such knowledge is important to law enforcement and legal professionals because call records can help event reconstruction and can assist in tracking the movements of individuals. Since records of communication links are often difficult to locate, this book should help law enforcement and legal professionals guide telephone company personnel during the search for evidence. Telephone company and customer rights are considered, as is the relationship between law enforcement agencies and communication service providers. Telephone fraud instigated by service providers and nonservice providers is discussed, along with the problem of nuisance and harassment calls. Forms of competition within the local telephone industry are described, as are the elements of a telephone network and the portability of local numbers. Technical aspects of monitoring a telephone network or a subscriber’s telephone line are also described, although the author cautions that legal guidance should be sought concerning the legality of the practices presented. Tables, figures, footnotes, index