Reports:
A Virginia company, ComSonics, is working on development of a device that detects radio frequencies that come from a cell phone inside of a car, according to the Virginia-Pilot.
Text messages emit unique frequencies that differ from the radio waves emitted by other activities on a phone. This new device would allow officers to determine if someone were texting from inside the vehicle.
Texting while driving is outlawed in 44 states so this radar gun like device would be a welcome addition to many law enforcement agencies around the country.
ComSonics manager, Malcolm McIntyre, said the text-detecting gun is “close to production,” but that it still needs to gain legal approval for law enforcement agencies to utilize it.
This technology seems ripe for abuse by law enforcement, as anyone in the car could be texting not simply the driver. Regardless, the device would alert officers that texting was happening. Would that then equate to reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle?
In addition, if a person is utilizing hands free texting, the radio waves emitted would still be the same but it’s clearly not breaking the law.
If history is any indicator, what this would mean is that any time officers detect texting in a vehicle, regardless of who was texting, the car would be pulled over and the occupants questioned.
Officers are constantly looking for any excuse to make contact with individuals in an attempt question people as a means of starting a criminal investigation. They want to search people’s cars and will use any excuse possible to get their proverbial foot in the door.
It seems that this technology is simply another means to rob the hard working American taxpayers and to allow stops of vehicles that wouldn’t otherwise be subject to stop by law enforcement.