Privacy and price were among the top objections to Pasadena Police Department’s quest to purchase a stingray system. Some of the California lawmakers said that they felt that Cellular Site Simulators, or “stingrays,” were too broad in their ability to gather data. As Pasadena Now notes, while the harvested data can help the police catch criminals, it also exposes the personal information of private citizens.
“First and foremost,” objected opponent David Fang, “The use of cell site simulators raises profound privacy issues. These devices indiscriminately collect data from all mobile devices in their vicinity, including those of innocent individuals who are not under any suspicion.”
A staff report countered that charge, declaring that when CSS technology is used after obtaining a search warrant based upon probable cause, there are no violations of privacy laws or infringement of personal privacy. The Pasadena Police Department has stated that they want to obtain their own stingray to pinpoint the location of a target individual’s cell phone. The police say they do not have any desire to read emails, just to find the caller via geo-location technology. Judicious use of a stingray could zero in on a potential malefactor, or enable a successful suicide prevention, according to law enforcement.
The police department reports that at present it has to borrow stingray equipment several times per month and would like the council to spend $1,281,614 for the Tactical Support Equipment. “This technology furthers the City Council’s strategic planning goal of ensuring public safety by giving the Police Department the ability to quickly locate violent offenders following the commitment of criminal acts and / or save vulnerable victims who have been abducted or are missing,” states a staff report.
While all parties involved champion public safety, the use of Cellular Site Simulator technology has been a contentious issue, according to Pasadena Now, with strong opinions lined on both for and against its usage. Further discussion of the issue was postponed until later in October when some City Council members expressed concerns about police department policies regarding the technology.
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