Police Emails Indicate Plan to Hide the Use of Cellphone-Spying Devices From Courts

Photo Credit: Harris CorpEmails revealed by the American Civil Liberties Union indicate that Florida police made an agreement with the U.S. Marshals Service to hide information about specific cellphone-tracking techniques and devices they used.

In the initial email exchange, a Sarasota Police Department sergeant wrote that in a warrant application to a judge, a North Port Police Department detective had “specifically outlined the investigative means used to locate the suspect,” and the sergeant asked that the detective “submit a new [probable cause affidavit] and seal the old one.”

In other words, fix the old affidavit and keep the use of StingRay equipment secret, according to the ACLU.

Although the Sarasota Police Department and the North Point Police Department did not own StingRay devices, the two departments had borrowed the cellphone trackers from the U.S. Marshals Service, which requested that they hide the use of the StingRays from judges and defendants, according to ArsTechnia.

The issue came up in the emails when Sarasota police realized that a North Point detective had shared too many details in a probable cause affidavit, specifically detailing “the investigative means used to locate the suspect.”

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