Boston Police use of cell phone trackers kept private
The Boston Police Department is staying quiet on how it uses cellphone tracker technology, causing concerns among civil liberties advocates, according to a report from the New England Center for Investigative Reporting.
Boston Police and the Suffolk County district attorney’s office have agreements with the Federal Bureau of Investigation not to release information about the trackers, according to documents obtained by NECIR through a public records request.
The devices, known as “StingRays,’’ are capable of identifying all phones in a given area and logging their movements over time, NECIR reports. In New York, the technology has been used in more than 1,000 cases to investigate rapes, murders, and missing people, as well as lower-priority crimes like identity theft and money laundering, The New York Times reports.
But in Boston, police spokesman Lt. Michael McCarthy told NECIR it has no list of cases that used trackers and declined to provide examples of their use.
Boston Police commissioner William Evans said on WGBH Boston Public Radio that the technology was only used for public safety.
“We have no sinister plot here,’’ Evans said. “If we have to track down someone who’s running loose in the city, whether it’s a terrorist or mass murderer, this is the technology we’re going to use.’’
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