Nowadays, nearly everyone carries a cellphone. So what if your local law enforcement agency could follow the whereabouts of your cell phone, without ever issuing you a warning?
That's how radio frequency measurement equipment, also called 'Stingrays', have often been used by law enforcement agencies, including the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. The devices are also called cell site simulators, digital analyzers, triggerfish or International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers.
By mimicking cell phone towers, 'Stingrays' are able to capture a cellphone's location signals and identifying information.
HOW LONG HAVE THEY BEEN USED IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA?
The use of 'Stingrays' in our region dates as far back as 2007, according to a Criminal Investigation Division report from the Oakland Police Department. According to that report, an Oakland police task force made 21 arrests using the devices.
Other departments ABC10 identified as using the devices include the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department, San Jose Police Department, San Francisco Police Department, Alameda County District Attorney's Office and Fremont Police.
But the devices are also used by agencies across the country.
The American Civil Liberties Union identifies 54 agencies in 21 states and the District of Columbia that are using the technology in providing public safety.
ARE 'STINGRAYS' LEGAL UNDER FEDERAL LAW?
Civil liberties groups have cried foul on the use of these devices, which are able to track cell phones inside private homes and also collect identifying information from a large number of bystanders' phones. All without the issuance of a search warrant.
But the federal government does stand by law enforcement's legal use of these devices. Though only recently were rules put into place for how agencies may use them.
Earlier this month, the United State Department of Justice released its first set of guidelines for using 'Stingrays.'
It's now required under federal law that agencies attain a search warrant supported by probable cause before they may use a 'Stingray' in their investigation. The guidelines clarify that simulators may not collect data contained in the phone (such as emails, texts, contacts lists and images) during the course of criminal investigations.
The guidelines also state all data collected by a 'Stingray' "must be deleted as soon as that device is located, and no less than once daily."
“The Department of Justice's new policy on cell-site simulators, or 'Stingrays,' is a welcome first step and will help bring an invasive surveillance technology closer to our constitutional privacy standards," California Congressman Ted Lieu, (D-Torrance), who sits on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a press release after the new guidelines were announced.
Rep. Lieu added he would ask the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to examine this issue.
HOW ARE LOCAL AGENCIES RESPONDING TO THE NEW GUIDELINES?
Tuesday, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department held a press conference to clarify the department's use of 'Stingrays.'
But ABC10's investigative reporter Thom Jensen, who broke the story on the department's use of the simulators, was bared from entering the event.