“RCMP wants photo ID along with cellphone purchase”

[jody]

RCMP wants photo ID along with cellphone purchase
QUOTE
The RCMP drug squad in Newfoundland and Labrador would like to see people buying cellular phones and other wireless communications devices obliged to present photo identification.
UNQUOTE

Next, is Canada going to require a Carry Concealed Phone permit for cell phones? :evilgrin:

[Maple]

1. LOL

what they want, and what they'll get are two quite different things.

[iverglas]

2. hmm

Did I accidentally elect some of my old buddies in the RCMP to govern the country? I don't seem to recall doing that. Although I do think Sgt. Larry, f'r instance, was a bunch smarter than, say, the idiot Liberal backbencher who "represents" me, and I might have voted for him if he'd been running. He was awful embarrassed that day I caught him in the elevator at citizenship court wearing his full regalia instead of his standard cowboy boots and button-down; turned almost as scarlet as his tunic when I smirked, then turned tail and hustled directly into the big black car waiting at the door.

Ask Google for "police call for". You'll get quite a few responses (not all of them relevant). Some police have called for some strange and wonderful things, not just for the public's assistance in solving crimes; some have called for some truly wonderful things, like an international terrorist tribunal. The Toronto police regularly call for politicians to resign.

Here's a good one:

http://www.newswire.ca/releases/September2002/20/c3211.html

Police Call for Leadership to Stop Inmates From Running the Asylum

OTTAWA, Sept. 20 /CNW/ - The Canadian Police Association (CPA) and the Police Association of Ontario (PAO) are completely appalled by today's latest news about a group of inmates partying in Collins Bay Institution, a medium security federal penitentiary. "Once again, inmates appear to have been left totally to themselves to party. I predict that we will be told again that this is another isolated incident. But the reality is, that this is further evidence that the inmates are really running the asylum", says CPA Executive Officer David Griffin.

German police are calling for an end to the drug war, Australian police are calling for metal detectors in nightclubs, Malaysian police are calling for a crackdown.

It's not unthinkable that a licence might be required to have a cell phone. After all, it amounts to broadcasting over some sort of airwaves (forgive me, I'm a cell phone philistine, luddite, whatever) and the airwaves are public. Radio and television broadcasters require licences. Hell, in the UK you need a licence to have a television receiver.

But I kind of think that the police's desire to find out who's saying what on their cell phones would not be entertained as an actual reason for requiring that they be licensed. Much as it may annoy the police, in Canada as in most other places, those constitutional rights tend to get in the way of such schemes. And using a cell phone isn't actually a proximate cause of any harm the user might end up causing.

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