By Shelley Kofler
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-672351.mp3
Dallas – A Dallas legislator says gangs operating across the Texas-Mexico border are the biggest homeland security threat in our state. And he has a plan to take away one of their favorite weapons - pre-paid disposable cell phones. KERA's Shelley Kofler reports.
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Texas Senator John Carona says it's no mystery why a criminal would buy a pre-paid disposable cell phone to conspire with accomplices-
Carona: It's untraceable there's no documentation on it there's no record kept by the retailer Once that phone is purchased no one knows who bought it or for what reasons.
As chair of the senate committee overseeing homeland security Carona is proposing legislation that would make it harder to use a prepaid phone and get away with a crime.
Carona would require phone buyers to show a drivers license or state ID. They could not purchase more than three phones at a time. Manufacturers or service providers would have to keep call records and making them available to law enforcement.
Carona says manufacturers last year torpedoed similar legislation.
Carona: They simply did not want to see the retailer or manufacturer have to provide any kind of additional information
But with law enforcement support, Carona hopes to make Texas the first state that renders prepaid phones a useless weapon for thugs.