Karl Baker

The News Journal

Federal officials are backing the Delaware State Police regarding cell site simulators.

A Stingray sends out a signal that tricks cell phones within its vicinity into connecting to it.

Advanced models allow police to view location information, text messages and numbers called.

The U.S. Department of Justice is supporting the Delaware State Police's efforts to keep under wraps details about secretive cell phone tracking devices known as Stingrays.

Lawyers filed a statement in Delaware Superior Court in support of the state's refusal to disclose how it uses the technology, which sends out a signal that tricks nearby cell phones into connecting to it as if it were a tower. Police have used the technology for investigations, and advanced models allow authorities to view location information, text messages, numbers called, emails and stored photos.

The filing is in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Newark resident Jonathan Rudenberg against the Delaware Department of Justice.

The department in 2015 denied a request by Rudenberg, who asked the state police through the Freedom of Information Act to disclose how Stingray technology is being used and what's been purchased. The denial was challenged to Attorney General Matt Denn, who ruled in December that state police didn't have to disclose certain details, prompting the lawsuit.

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The federal Department of Justice's filing with the court last week said the agency wanted its voice heard because any decision could hamper investigations.

"Although the United States is not a party to this case, it has a direct interest in the protection of the information withheld," Justice Department attorneys wrote. "Cell-site simulator technology is a key tool in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation, interdiction and suppression of criminal and terrorist activity. Disclosure of even minor details about this technology will jeopardize, if not vitiate, the ability of the FBI and the larger law enforcement community to successfully deploy this valuable technology."

The News Journal in February reported about state police using the technology, which was originally developed for federal agents and the military. Authorities declined a request to comment before the story, but following the article, police in a statement said the devices are used to locate criminal suspects and missing persons only, and officers do not read electronic communications, such as emails or text messages.

State police also denied a FOIA request from The News Journal that requested details about the use of Stingrays by police.

After consulting with the FBI, the agency provided redacted purchase orders to The News Journal and Rudenberg, who was quoted in stories about the technology.

Specific Stingray models were blacked out from the disclosed documents. The records show state police paid $949,704 to Melbourne, Florida-based Harris Corp. for hardware and training between 2008 and 2014.

While the very nature of police investigations is secretive, cell-site simulators have an extra layer of mystery because the state police, like other law enforcement agencies, signed an agreement with the FBI promising it would disclose virtually no information about the machines, and are directed to dismiss criminal cases if details about the tools are threatened to be released.

A USA TODAY Network investigation identified more than 35 police departments that used Stingrays in 2013 and 2014, and the ACLU has found at least 18 more. When and how the police have used those devices is mostly a mystery, largely because of the FBI's secrecy oath.

The Justice Department filing last week prompted Superior Court Judge Richard Cooch to postpone arguments planned Wednesday.

Cooch said the Justice Department statement and an accompanying declaration by FBI agent Russell Hansen, chief of the agency's tracking technology unit, offers facts that were not previously in the record.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Karl Baker at (302) 324-2329 or kbaker@delawareonline.com. Follow him on twitter @kbaker6.