Police arrest UW student for alleged porn transmission over police airwaves
Michelle Samenfeld
City Editor
After experiencing disruptions in their radio communication system dating back to last spring, Madison police arrested a 25-year-old University of Wisconsin student who may have used the police airwaves to broadcast audio pornography.
After police searched his apartment on North Orchard Street, Rajib K. Mitra was arrested and is now in Dane County Jail charged under Wisconsin’s computer crime statute with 16 felony counts, according to Madison police.
Police began experiencing interference last April, which randomly left radios dead for a period of a few seconds to 20 minutes. Police originally thought the problem was a radio malfunction.
The disturbances happened when police were dispatched responding to calls, so the person responsible was able to monitor police traffic and was knowledgeable on the department’s system, according to The Wisconsin State Journal.
On Halloween evening Oct. 31, Madison police and fire personnel began to report significant radio transmission and reception problems. During the night, a “steady tone” was broadcast randomly until about 4 a.m. on Nov. 1, according to The Wisconsin State Journal. Radio technicians were able to trace the source of the disturbance to the North Orchard/Regent Street neighborhood.
Police monitoring State Street were operating on a different radio frequency so they were unaffected by the disruptions, but regular police and fire operations were disrupted throughout the night in a one-mile radius of Mitra’s apartment.
On the evening of Nov. 11, police received pornographic audio broadcasts 13 times, each lasting a few seconds for a period of 20 minutes. The porn helped police realize the disturbances were indeed intentional. The source of the disturbance was again traced to the same area as the Halloween disruptions.
Police, working with the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force and the FBI, were able to establish probable cause for Mitra’s arrest and Thursday executed a search warrant at his 10 N. Orchard St. apartment for various radio system and computer equipment. Police have not yet uncovered a motive.
In 2002, the police and fire departments upgraded their public safety radio communications. When they began experiencing the disruptions on the new radio communications system in April 2003, radio technicians began working with police and fire personnel to identify the source causing the radio system disruption.
As a result of the system problems, Madison Police and City of Madison Radio Communications Section personnel worked to develop contingency plans to ensure the police and fire departments would continue to have necessary radio communications in case of continued disturbance or disruption.
