Ever since Edward Snowden revealed that the US government had been spying on its own people, many have started to become extra critical with regards to surveillance tactics, and recently it seems that the police department in Erie County, New York, has found themselves in the public eye after it was discovered that they had used the controversial “stingray” spying tool 46 times without a warrant.The tool had been used 47 times in total since 2010, but out of those 47 times, it was only once that they had actually obtained a court order to do so. The records of their use was published on NYCLU where it was also revealed that the sheriff’s office had signed a gag order with the FBI in order to maintain their secrecy about its stingray records.
What was even more troubling was that the department was told that the FBI had the right to intervene in county prosecutions should there be an event where the use of the stingrays could have been disclosed. According to NYCLU’s Western Region Director John Curr III, “If the FBI can command the Sheriff’s Office to dismiss criminal cases to protect its secret stingrays, it is not clear how the $350,000 we are spending on stingray equipment is keeping the people of Buffalo safer.”
In fact as it stands, it still remains unclear as to what specifically these surveillance devices can do and how they are being used, no thanks to the non-disclosure agreements that police departments have to sign with the makers of such devices. Previously it had been suggested that the devices had the ability to disrupt cellular communications, and in some cases even collect the content of said phone calls.
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