PITTSBURGH — It doesn’t look anything like a cellphone tower, but it acts exactly like one.
It’s only about the size of a suitcase and it can be mounted in a police car.
It’s called Stingray and the extent of its capabilities are a mystery.
Target 11 has learned that it’s used by police and other law enforcement agencies to intercept cellphone calls and text messages to track criminals, but it may be tracking your phone too.
“So everybody with a cell in the area, they will know who's in the area and they can pinpoint where they are and who owns that cell," said Greg Rogers, director of Point Park University’s Intelligence and National Security Program, who worked for several federal law enforcement agencies and indicated that the type of technology has been around for nearly a decade.
Here’s how it works.
Stingray tricks cellphone signals so instead of going to the cellphone tower, calls are routed right through the device, allowing police to pinpoint a suspect’s exact location.
The device is shrouded in secrecy.
Target 11 wanted to know exactly how it works.
We contacted the company that makes the device, the Harris Corp. in Florida, but a spokesman refused to release any information.
We also discovered the company makes law enforcement agencies sign a non-disclosure form.
We wanted to know if any police departments in our area are using it.
We filed several right to know requests, and we received 11 pages of documents from the Pennsylvania State Police.
Some of the words had been blacked out.
“This record contains information….that if disclosed would be reasonably likely to jeopardize or threaten public safety or preparedness,” wrote the State Police.
But the documents did indicate that State Police made two purchases from the Harris Corp. last year for a total of $465,000.
We also requested similar information from the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County but haven’t heard back yet.
The city controller did tell Target 11 he had not received any invoices or bills from the Harris Corp.
The American Civil Liberties Union also made a similar request to the city of Pittsburgh.
Its right to know request was denied and the organization appealed it.
The courts heard arguments in early November, but the judges have not issued a ruling.
“Do you think they’re using it?” asked Earle.
“I have no idea because they haven’t been willing. I mean they didn’t turn over a single piece of paper,” said ACLU attorney Sara Rose, who acknowledges that there are legitimate uses for the device, but argues that this technology could be a violation of privacy when it sweeps up cellphone data from innocent users.
Rose wants to know how often police use the devices and what they do with all the data they collect from those innocent cellphone users.
“When you place so much secrecy around these programs, there's no way for the public to check to see if the information on innocent users is being deleted,” said Rose.
Target 11 discovered that some newer models give police the ability to actually listen to a call.
WPXI
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/XCUXZC2XYZHCRGNNGKFEX6U3LQ.png)
