Why do the Police keep remotely acitvating my Airplane mode?

[bananaramajama]

I have a prepaid sprint HTC Desire cell phone.

I noticed over the last year that my airplane mode will suddenly switch on without me turning it on, and it never happens unless the Police come close to me.

There is a cop car that parks on the corner by my apartment. If I walk close to the car the airplane mode suddenly turns on. Sometimes I walk past and it turns on, or maybe I walk up to them and say hello and it turns on. Several times I noticed that they drive past me then suddenly turn around and pass back by me again up to four times in a few short minutes. Last night they passed me going south and then did a sudden donut and then passed me north and then turned the corner and came back and went south again. There was no one else around just me and a friend walking home from the store. Even my friend noticed and thought they were circling us in their car.

The airplane mode on my phone has remotely turned on when close to this cop car over ten times this last year. Otherwise my airplane mode is never turned on, not on accident or on purpose.

I poked around online and discovered that it is possible to activate airplane mode remotely but I don't understand why a law enforcement agency would want to keep remotely activating my airplane mode.

Is this a legal method of surveillance and is my local law enforcement agency gathering intelligence on me in this way? If so what would they be accessing.

I'm feeling pretty creeped out. Aside from some jay walking, smoking a little pot and being a sometime internet troll I'm certainly no criminal so what gives? Any ideas? Is this legal? What can I do about it?

Thanks

 

[Alanhd]

I've no idea why they would want airplane mode on, surely this would defeat the purpose if they wanted to snoop on you.
Maybe they are checking up on someone else and now your aware, you notice them more. A bit like someone always seeing the time at 11.11.

 

[bananaramajama]

It's not at all a bit like someone seeing the clock when it says 11:00 but thanks for reading my post and thoughtfully responding that I'm akin to a paranoid delusional conspiracy theorist when you have nothing of value to add. As a woman I love when people chalk my valid concerns up to mental illness.

Perhaps I should clarify.

As long as I have owned cell phones I have never experienced the Airplane mode activating by its self without the phone even being touched.

Over the last year it had happened at least ten times. At first I thought it was odd but no big deal. Then one day I noticed as I stood next to this police car that it literally swithched on while I stood holding my phone looking at the screen.

Each next time I experienced this this same police car was there. This does not happen anytime I pass any police car or happen to be near the police. Every time this happens I am on the block where I live and it is always the same police car or officers, although I've noted two different pairs of officers in these cars, it not every police car that causes it nor does it happen when any old police officer happens to just drive past.

I repeat my airplane mode never had a history of self activating. Now it self activates all the time. But only in a particular place around certain people. Repeatedly.

I'm not an ***** and I'm not paranoid schizophrenic. I thought this out quite a bit and tested my theory by carrying the phone as close to the car as possible on other occasions to experience the same results.

People who are suprised to see that the clock reads the same twice a day need a lot more help than I do.

 

[Alanhd]

At no time was i questioning your mental state or dismissing your concerns, I was just stating a fact that it would be counter productive for anyone who wanted to snoop on you to set your phone on airplane mode.
Just googling police survalance comes up with some pretty underhand ways that can be used to snoop.

 

[Corey Dorsey]

I think you are either playing around with this question or you are accidentally activating airplane mode for some reason while you are near the police officers. I think this is a case where you are doing internet trolling, but nevertheless, this is one of the most interesting questions and stories that I have read on an Android site. I look forward to either: having fun with a troll, learning something new, or both.

You said, "I poked around online and discovered that it is possible to activate airplane mode remotely but I don't understand why a law enforcement agency would want to keep remotely activating my airplane mode." Can you please cite your source(s)? Maybe my knowledge is limited but I only found a way to do it via adb: android - Turning airplane mode on via ADB - Stack Overflow. To do that remotely would require you to be on the same WiFi network and they would need to know your IP Address: https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/adb.html#wireless.

 

[MrCorpses]

Any update on this topic? I've been having the same **** happen to me only they are doing a lot more to me. Is your wifi network being tampered with? Check ur routers logs. I've been receiving constant attacks and it's always around the time I catch them digging thru my trash or see em down the street doing horrible "undercover" surveillance. Anyway, curious if I've found anything on this. P.s. I'm not crazy either but they sure do a fantastic job at making me look it. ******* psychopathic stalkers...

 

[sassafrass88]

I think your mistaken, there is no way they can remotely do airplane mode no one can, not even you. There is no back door to it, it's a manual thing you have to do physically on your phone.

 

[B. Diddy]

This thread has run its course.