Authorities use technology to track criminals

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- That cell phone on your hip or in your purse isn't just for talking anymore, and criminals looking to steal your information know it.

But the bad guys aren't the only ones taking advantage of the ever-changing technology. Crime investigators are increasingly using cell phones, surveillance video cameras and other devices to nab suspects and solve cases.

Both cell phone and surveillance technology were keys in the investigation around an 18-year-old suburban Kansas City woman's kidnapping and killing.

Police say surveillance footage from an Overland Park, Kan., Target store parking lot captured Kelsey Smith's abduction June 2. Then, signals from Smith's cell phone led police to the wooded area where her body was found four days later.

Authorities have charged Edwin Hall, 26, of Olathe, Kan., with first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in Smith's death.

Zahnd isn't prosecuting the case, which occurred in Johnson County on the Kansas side of the metropolitan area. But he said technology has been helpful in several cases he has handled.

Earlier this month, Charles E. Rothman, 65, of Scott City, was arrested in Poplar Bluff, Mo., after police found him by tracking the use of his ATM card and cell phone. Police say Rothman apparently had faked his own death to escape prosecution. He has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

Joseph Farren, spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Association in Washington, D.C., said the industry trade group has no data that shows how much the use of cell phone technology has increased in law enforcement.

But Farren said it is a growing trend.

"We've certainly seen more and more use of the phones' location capability as a tool for law enforcement," Farren said.

Of course, he said, phone companies don't hand over records to police or allow them to tap into cell phone tracking systems without court permission.

Throughout the country, technology in general is emerging as a tool in more cases.

Surveillance video was used in the high-profile case of 11-year-old Carlie Brucia, who was abducted from a car wash in Florida in 2004. The image of Joseph Smith grabbing the girl's wrist and leading her away helped police make an arrest.

Last month, cell phone technology helped Pennsylvania police find a 10-year-old boy who needed a heart transplant. They couldn't reach the boy's mother on her cell phone to tell her a heart had become available, so they used a global positioning system to track the family down at a concert.

"We continue to try and advance ourselves with technology, because it is helpful in so many ways," Pennsylvania Trooper Linette Quinn said.

Whether it's for a medical emergency or criminal investigation, technology can be the difference between things ending well or tragically, authorities said.

"Without technology, a lot of cases would reach a dead end very fast," said Jeff Lanza, a special agent with the FBI in Kansas City.

Lanza said it's now become routine for investigators to collect "electronic information" -- video images, cell phone exchanges, e-mails and messages on the social networking Web site MySpace.

Keeping up with all the technology can be a challenge, said John Firman, director of research for the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

"In many cases, police are in a reaction mode," said Firman, whose office is in Alexandria, Va. "Police often have to play catch up."