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Arizona police agencies use controversial tracking tool to locate cellphones

• azcentral.com, By Jim Walsh and JJ Hensley
A Yuma woman and her children had been kidnapped from a safe house in October.  Her estranged husband had sexually assaulted her and fled with their children, leaving her behind at a motel, according to officials.

The estranged husband was using his cellphone to call her, threatening to kill the children and himself. It is hard to imagine a better time for Gilbert police to use a Stingray to track the cellphone and help another police department prevent a possible murder-suicide.

Police tracked him and the children to the Globe/Miami area using Stingray technology, and he surrendered without incident. They said he was armed.

“If that were your kids or your grandkids, you would expect that kind of service,” Gilbert Detective Sy Ray said. “To me, it’s a disservice if we don’t do that.”

But rarely has there been a more controversial police weapon than the Stingray, with civil libertarians worried about widespread police tracking of cellphones and violations of innocent people’s privacy.
 
 

1 Comments in Response to

Comment by Tyger
Entered on:

Does this mean if I forget my phone someplace and can't find it, that I can go to the Phoenix police and have them locate it for me? That would seem to be a convenient service. :-))


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