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Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 1:58 am
by G.A. Heath
Had to report a shoplifting at work. We got the incident on video, have a positive ID on the subject and were able to get his lp number. While trying to make a DVD of everything relating to the incident the officer advised me to call him when the disk was ready and he'd come pick it up. So I get the disk ready, make the call and wait for his arrival. Part of the process involves running the ID of the complainant, being the one to call it in I am the complainant on record. So when the officer returns to get the disk he advises me the dispatcher got pretty excited when they ran my info.
Turns out someone with the same Last name, Birthday, and similar first name to my middle name has warrants out of Midland County. He had the dispatcher to check the SSNs to be sure and turns out it wasn't me (as expected). Now I have to figure out how to deal with LEOs who may encounter a situation where they pull me over, are notified by me of my CHL and weapon, run my info and get back a report of warrants from a dispatcher who doesn't check the SSN. Things might get a little interesting to say the least. Should I find myself encountering an officer outside of my usual routine I will probably advise them of what I learned and tell them to be sure their dispatcher knows to verify the SSNs when they check for warrants. Last thing I want is multiple nervous LEOs pointing their weapons at me.
Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:38 am
by carlson1
Close Escape.
Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:24 am
by OverEasy
Better you learned of this the way you did and not in the middle of the night during a traffic stop on the side of the road.
Il'd say it was good luck!
Regards, OE
Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:28 am
by Oldgringo
Somebody posted this site somewhere. Check it out, it's kinda' interesting.
http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:17 am
by suthdj
only 18 of me.
My coworker has an issue with getting jobs as there is somebody out there with his same name with a criminal record he says most places don't even call him, in our current job he had to get a letter from Austin to clear things up.
Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 12:26 pm
by joe817
Interesting......2 of me.

Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:36 pm
by Oldgringo
I don't know how much credibility there is with this site. It says there are 14 of me in the USA. My Momma (R.I.P.) told me that the mold had been broken after I was born?

Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:40 pm
by Purplehood
Not too accurate. Says I have a one of a kind name. I guess I will have to tell my eldest son that he has the wrong name, or vice versa.
On the subject of the OP. You lucked out coming across that info.
Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:54 pm
by ELB
I have an uncommon last name, which for OPSEC purposes I am not going to share.

In fact, I have never met someone outside my immediate family with the same last name, altho I know there are some out there, with one exception. I was checking out of my first duty station to go over seas when everyone at all the way points (Accounting and Finance, Personnel, etc) kept asking me "Weren't you just here last week doing this?" Um, no. My final stop was the Security Police desk. I shuffle thru my brief case handing stuff over to this big tall airman cop when I was a bit shocked to hear him sound off, "I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!" Of course everyone looks up, cops and visitors -- and he's standing there grinning, pointing at his name tag which reads exactly like mine. Turns out he was also getting ready to PCS, and had been doing the same drill as me, and had heard my name in the process.
On a downer, there are some people in San Antonio with my last name that I discovered by googling my last name; but when I googled my first and last name I found out they had a son with my first name, who had recently died at age 18 from a brain aneurysm. I decided it might be a bit awkward to just ring them up and intro myself.
I just ran my name thru that whatsmyname site. Says there are four of us. Hopefully none of them is a felon...
Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:17 pm
by randomoutburst
ELB wrote:I just ran my name thru that whatsmyname site. Says there are four of us. Hopefully none of them is a felon...
I ran my maiden name and I'm the only one...but when I ran my "new" name there's 18 of me! I was slightly disappointed at that and I hope the other 18 of me are as "clean" as I am.

Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:26 pm
by surprise_i'm_armed
Some time ago I ran my first and last name combo through this site.
As expected, I am the only person out of 300+ million Americans with my name.
So if I ever end up with warrants on my name, that will have been a very bad week!
There will be no one else to point the finger at. :-)
SIA
Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:57 pm
by Tajovo
I wouldn't worry too much about that G.A. I've seen new dispatchers get excited over name and dob hits, the dispatchers with more years of experience already know to use the process of elimination in verifying that 'you are' or 'are not' the person on the warrant. More than just checking for differing ssn's we also use physical descriptors, height, weight, scars marks and tattoos, etc. There might be several people that have your name and date of birth (depending on how common your name is) but rarely do I see the physical descriptions match close enough that we even have ask for a SSN.
IMHO, if you are stopped by a LEO and present your DL and CHL you should be good to go.

Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 6:10 pm
by edmart001
3454 folks with my name. Just wow.
Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:51 pm
by RiverCity.45
Oldgringo wrote:Somebody posted this site somewhere. Check it out, it's kinda' interesting.
http://ww2.howmanyofme.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I had to laugh. According to this site, there are "1
or fewer" people in the US with my name.
Re: Informative Encounter at work.
Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 10:05 pm
by C-dub
I worried about the same thing when I bought my first gun and waited for the back ground check phone call. I went on my lunch break to the Bullet Trap and the guy said it would probably take about 30 minutes, but maybe longer if there were others with the same or similar name that weren't as clean. I thought, "Great. I'm going to be arrested when I come back after work to pick it up."
Everything went fine and I became the proud pappa of a Glock 22. Wow. That brings back memories.