Cell phone records used to solve crime

Science News : Italian gang members involved in a recent series of robberies were tracked down via their cell phone use. With the help of a data analysis tool called LogAnalysis , developed by scientists at the University of Messina, investigators analyzed reams of cell phone data, looking for incriminating patterns. What they found was that the suspects made an unusual number of calls immediately before and after each crimeâmdash;but none during. The final clue for the investigators was that during a particular supermarket holdup, all the calls, both before and after, mapped to a single cell station near the store. LogAnalysis uses algorithms developed to study complex networks, such as the relationships among organisms in an ecosystem or the flow of information between friends, to reconstruct illegal activities. It can also study hierarchies within criminal organizations by watching the evolution of contacts among individuals over time. Because there are so many ways to communicate now, however, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Skype, cell phone usage may provide only a fraction of the data needed to fight crime.