Gary Craig

@gcraig1

The Rochester police spent more than $200,000 since 2011 on a controversial device designed to grab telephone data by mimicking a cellphone tower.

The device, known as a StingRay, is becoming more commonly used by police across the country.

The Rochester police "spent over $200,000 to purchase and maintain a Stingray device called a KingFish and related equipment," the New York Civil Liberties Union, or NYCLU, reported Wednesday.

The NYCLU has sought information from police departments across New York, and successfully sued the Erie County Sheriff's Office after it refused to release data about its purchase and use of StingRays.

The Rochester police also earlier refused to release information to the Democrat and Chronicle, but after the NYCLU's lawsuit, did provide information to the NYCLU in response to an open records request.

"Even though StingRays are military-grade technology often touted as a counterterrorism tool, grant documents show that the Rochester Police Department obtained the StingRay technology to perform everyday law enforcement activity, such as keeping track of people they thought might be in gangs," the NYCLU reported.

MORE ►WATCHDOG BLOG ON LOCAL STINGRAY USE

"StingRay" is the brand name of a particular cellphone tracking device manufactured by Harris Corp., but the term is often commonly used for a range of similar devices.

StingRays are small and easily portable, and dupe cellphones within range to connect to them, providing information and locations about the telephones. Federal authorities have required local police who buy the devices to sign confidentiality pacts requiring them not to release information about the use of the StingRays.

Privacy advocates have assailed the confidentiality agreements, saying that use of the StingRays can violate the constitutional guarantee against unreasonable searches. The Rochester police has a confidentiality agreement with the FBI, according to the NYCLU. That agreement limits the information police can publicly release.

Rochester police officials were not immediately available for comment.

City won't say if it purchased surveillance equipment

Device gathers all data

In March a Maryland appellate court ruled that police must secure a warrant before using the device. While the ruling has no legal power in New York, it was hailed by privacy advocates as a step toward a more transparent use of StingRays.

In Rochester, police used the StingRay 13 times between January 2012 and May 2015, getting a state court warrant in six of the cases, according to KaeLyn Rich, director of the Rochester region NYCLU chapter. The records obtained by the NYCLU said there were four other "orders" from lower courts, but did not provide more detail, Rich said.

"The question is why do we need this technology for lower-level law enforcement," she said. The records obtained from the Rochester police do not detail whether StingRays were a valuable tool for investigations, she said.

Plus, she said, the device gathers up cellphone data in an entire area, not just from targeted phones.

"They're sweeping up an entire geographic area," she said.

Rich commended the Rochester police for getting search warrants and for also having policies about the use of StingRays.

GCRAIG@Gannett.com