A key piece of evidence in many criminal cases is cell phone tracking data, which allows law enforcement to determine who was near the crime scene and help identify a suspect.
Cell phone tracking data is often presented as evidence in murder cases in El Paso, but what is the law to protect a citizen’s right to privacy?
Like most legal issues, the law on this subject is complex and has been litigated in appellate courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. But overall, if police do not have a warrant, they can’t track your cell phone.
Here is what you need to know to protect your rights:
What are your constitutional rights?
Cell phone tracking data falls under the Fourth Amendment’s protections of privacy and civil rights, civil rights groups argue. The Fourth Amendment protects U.S. citizens from “unreasonable searches and seizures.”
Under the Fourth Amendment, law enforcement must obtain a search warrant to track a citizen’s cell phone GPS data. Police would need to prove to a judge that there is probable cause that a crime has been committed and they need to search the phone or go through its data to get the evidence.
If law enforcement collected your cell phone data without a warrant, a judge could throw out the evidence and bar it from being used in trial since it was illegally obtained.
When don’t police need a warrant?
There are exceptions to the law that allow law enforcement to track your cell phone location without a warrant.
These exceptions, according to the Texas Criminal Defense Group, include:
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Know your rights: Can law enforcement track your cell phone?
Reporting by Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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