Proposal would track pre-paid cell phones

In an effort to help police apprehend drug dealers, a Suffolk legislator introduced a proposal Tuesday to require purchasers of prepaid cell phones to produce identification, and stores to keep a record of the buyer of each phone.

Sponsor Kate Browning (WF-Shirley) said the proposal aims to provide police with a tool to trace phone calls made by drug dealers. Browning said parents of overdose victims and police have told her in meetings of their frustration over having drug investigations stall because of untraceable phone numbers.

But the measure is drawing fire from cell phone companies and some store owners, who called it overly burdensome.

In a letter to Browning, AT&T's state legislative director, Amy Kramer, wrote that some people, particularly those with low incomes or poor credit, can get cell phones only through the prepaid option. Kramer noted that some also may not have the two forms of ID the proposal requires.

Kramer said that rather than going to the trouble of collecting and storing the information, many retailers would stop selling prepaid cell phones.

In response to stores' concerns that they'd have to make room for boxes of records, Browning added a provision directing the county to create a central database for the information the measure would require.

Suffolk County police referred questions to the county executive. Spokesman Dan Aug said only that the administration is examining the proposal.

The Legislature's public safety committee chairman, Jack Eddington, said that while it's too early to assess the measure's chances in the legislature, he'll support it.

"If you watch even a couple of the police shows on TV, you see how many times phone numbers come back to one of these prepaid cell phones," said Eddington (I-Medford). "It's pretty clear there's a problem."