Traplines are an extremely useful investigation tool in tracking jumps and other investigations, such as the current location of the workplace. When you need to find out where someone works … The idea behind using a trap line is that if you capture the phone number the person is dialing from, you have a fact that they were at this location at the time of the call. This could be your home address or, if you are on the run, an emergency home or a motel room.
If you set it up correctly and ask them to call at a certain time, they may be calling from your workplace. Of course, once you get the number they are calling from, you have to convert the phone number you captured into an address.
A cheat line will capture the incoming phone number even if it is not on the list or if the caller ID information is blocked. One may wonder, how does a trip line move around the caller ID block? Actually, it is very easy and simple through the user of a dialed toll free number. In fact, you could set one up yourself via a toll-free 800 number. The problem is that you have to wait for the bill to get the number the person called from.
What a cheat line does is provide ANI (Automatic Number Identification) in real time. That means you get instant information on the customer’s name and address. This information can be emailed directly to your laptop or blackberry so that you can quickly attack the target, such as in the case of a bail leak, a fugitive kidnapping or non-custodial case.
Trap lines can be used in all jump tracking areas. Bail jumpers, teenagers on the run, parental kidnapping, and infidelity investigations. Traplines have been used successfully in all of these areas of research. If you are a researcher, you need to maintain some trap lines, but if you don’t have one, there are companies that rent trap lines and can have you set up and ready to go in minutes. Make sure to get your cheat line from some recognized experts in telephone investigations. Do a Google search on their name and company name to see if they are recognized as experts in the field of jump tracking and telephone investigations before renting a trap line.