The Charlotte Observer and WBTV on Friday filed a motion in Mecklenberg County Superior Court seeking access to court files related to Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department's use of StingRay technology, which mimics cellphone towers and allows police to track cellphone use. The court files have remained sealed at the police's request, and the records go back to 2006.
An investigative report by the Charlotte Observer in October revealed that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department began using StingRay technology in 2006 to mimic cellphone towers. By spoofing the cellphone towers, police are able to track users. CMPD has used it to track down suspects in violent felonies, such as murder and kidnapping. But the towers also collect information on innocent users of their cellphones.
In order to use a StingRay-type device, the police file a request with a Superior Court judge, who must evaluate whether or not the police have probable cause that justifies the towers’ use. After the newspaper learned of the technology, media began asking for copies of the paperwork filed by the police with the courts. But the records are sealed.
On Friday, WBTV and the Charlotte Observer filed a motion in Mecklenberg Superior Court asking for the records to be unsealed. The FBI, which provides the technology to local police after a nondisclosure agreement has been signed, has successfully argued in similar cases that most of the information related to the towers needs to remain secret because it is important to national security.
Yet two superior court judges in Mecklenberg County told the Observer that they saw no reason for the court records to remain sealed once the cases they’re related to have concluded. The newspaper also reported that local defense attorneys were unaware the technology was in use in Charlotte until reading about it in the news, despite North Carolina’s broad discovery law which requires the state to disclose extensive information in cases where felony charges are brought.
Read the Observer’s coverage here.