Telcos don't do real time analysis of which IMEI/IMSI are currently connected to a Base Transciever Station. Historical pattern of life data is useful to make a

Telcos don't do real time analysis of which IMEI/IMSI are currently connected to a Base Transciever Station. Historical pattern of life data is useful to make a case of where someone has been (or at least their phone), but if you're trying to arrest someone you want to know where the a suspect handset is with almost no latency. I understand the case being made, but these kind of systems work by identifying broadcast messages from handsets by providing a stronger Cell Reselect Offset path and a handful of other parameters that make the phone register with the "tower." It's the same conceptually as if you were broadcasting a low power AM radio signal and the police tuned to your station. Your broadcast signal isn't private. Maybe it should be, but I'm not sure how that would work with GSM/CDMA systems as designed.