Can the Police trace withheld calls?

[dr.pepper]

A friend of the family has been on the receiving end of crank calls from a withheld number. BT have advised that for the previous calls, they can't do anything. The last time the prankster called, he was firmly told that the Police would be getting involved.

Do the police have any way of tracing the previous calls or can they only work from the new ones?

[dr.pepper]

Thanks for the responses.

The line in question is a business line, and he receives a lot of calls on it. It would be a royal PITA for him to break down the bill and find the exact call as he didn't log the specific time.

He's decided to wait for future calls and will make a log of them to present to the Police.

[dr.pepper]

AndyRw said:

The network operator can often deal with the nuisance more quickly than us BiB, or we can work together if you permit the operator to disclose certain information about your account. Alternatively, BiB complete an application under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act for communications data - i.e. the source number of the relevant calls. This has to be authorised by an Officer of the appropriate rank (Inspector for some things, Superintendent for others). A further RIPA application would then be sent to whichever company provides the offender's service for account details.

The forms are a bit complicated (unnecessarily) and it can take some time - depends on the provider. I've had one back the day the Inspector authorised it before, on the other hand I'm still waiting for one over a month after submission (though it's not just a phone no. I'm after in that case). Dates and times would be needed for the relevant calls - we need to be sure that we're not obtaining information of some unconnected party who has also called you! I've had one result come up blank with the source number, when it came from a VOIP phone.

If it's an occasional nuisance as opposed to persistant, then it may not be proportionate. If it's affecting your life, then report it. Don't expect Officers to attend on blues, or sort it overnight, as it can take time. I don't know whether some forces deal differently, but certainly we'd be submitting the necessary for a persistant problem.

EU_Foreigner said:

Not really, they just have to dial 1471 in front of your number to un-hide their number. It only stops people who want to hide their number, those who do not can still call you by adding the prefix.

1470

Thanks Andy.

The main problem is that my friend is an idiot and always rises to the pranksters. He ends up swearing at them and "entertaining" them. I've advised him to shut up and not entertain them as they will soon get bored.

If they still persist then he'll probably take it further. He'll have to log the times and dates though.