Cops Play Hide and Seek About Using Spy Tech to Avoid Scrutiny and Bad PR
20 days ago
- Law enforcement agencies across the U.S. are increasingly using surveillance technologies like ALPRs, cell-site simulators, and facial recognition, raising civil rights concerns.
- Police departments are instructing officers to conceal ALPR usage during stops and in reports, with policies like 'DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE' from Flock cameras in Iowa.
- In Houston, officers are told to be vague about Flock use to avoid public records requests that could reveal surveillance searches.
- Some cities and states are responding to public alarm by covering up or canceling ALPR networks, but law enforcement continues to hide their use to avoid scrutiny and bad PR.
- Historical examples include AT&T's Hemisphere program, which required police to use 'parallel construction' to hide surveillance evidence, a practice called 'evidence laundering.'
- Police have hidden the use of Stingray cell-site simulators from courts by obtaining deceptive pen register orders, leading to a 2015 Baltimore ruling requiring a warrant.
- Prosecutors have accepted plea deals or dropped cases to avoid revealing Stingray use, and U.S. Marshals have driven files hundreds of miles to block public records requests.
- EFF and privacy advocates work to expose these surveillance tools and push for policy changes to restrain warrantless mass surveillance.