Author Topic: PoPo use cell tracking and coached by FBI to keep it from DA's & Judges  (Read 809 times)

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Offline Libertas

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The Baltimore Police Department has used an invasive and controversial cellphone tracking device thousands of times in recent years while following instructions from the FBI to withhold information about it from prosecutors and judges, a detective revealed in court testimony Wednesday.

The testimony shows for the first time how frequently city police are using a cell site simulator, more commonly known as a "stingray," a technology that authorities have gone to great lengths to avoid disclosing.
 
The device mimics a cellphone tower to force phones within its range to connect. Police use it to track down stolen phones or find people.
 
Until recently, the technology was largely unknown to the public. Privacy advocates nationwide have raised questions whether there has been proper oversight of its use.
 
Baltimore has emerged in recent months as a battleground for the debate. In one case last fall, a city detective said a nondisclosure agreement with federal authorities prevented him from answering questions about the device. The judge threatened to hold him in contempt if he didn't provide information, and prosecutors withdrew the evidence.
 
The nondisclosure agreement, presented for the first time in court Wednesday, explicitly instructs prosecutors to drop cases if pressed on the technology, and tells them to contact the FBI if legislators or judges are asking questions.
 
Detective Emmanuel Cabreja, a member of the Police Department's Advanced Technical Team, testified that police own a Hailstorm cell site simulator — the latest version of the stingray — and have used the technology 4,300 times since 2007.
 
Cabreja said he had used it 600 to 800 times in less than two years as a member of the unit.
http://touch.baltimoresun.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83252409/

And this is just in Baltimore.  Think similar (and worse) is not going on in your neighborhood?  Think again!

"Agencies have invoked the nondisclosure agreement to keep information secret. At a hearing last year, a Maryland State Police commander told state lawmakers that 'Homeland Security' prevented him from discussing the technology.  Wessler said the secrecy is upending the system of checks and balances built into the criminal justice system."

No sh*t?  Here's a newsflash for you sport...there is no check or balance in the criminal justice system!  There is the state, there are its willing and self-ignorant accomplices, and there is everybody else...targets for lack of a better term.  Why?  Because there are no checks and balances left in the political system either, and one political party has a near total death-grip on the flow of information...all that is missing from this fascist picture is pretty banners, burning books and people stuffed in cattle cars!!!


We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.