http://gty.im/sb10063113gc-003
The USA Today (along with The Desert Sun) is out with a story today pointing out that a Riverside County judge has issued five more times as many wiretaps as any other judge anywhere in The United States. So, next time you are on the phone, you might want to say “hi” – as a DEA agent or, quite possibly, a former Survivor contestant listens in.
Via The Desert Sun:
The judge’s orders allowed investigators — usually from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration — to intercept more than 2 million conversations involving 44,000 people, federal court records show.
That is a shocking amount of conversations – especially considering that hardly anyone actually talks on the phone anymore – and a hell of a lot of people.
The amount of wiretaps in the county has quadrupled in the last 4 years – with 624 last year alone. So why all the surveillance?
The eavesdropping is aimed at dismantling the drug rings that have turned Los Angeles’ eastern suburbs into what the DEA says is the nation’s busiest shipping corridor for heroin and methamphetamine. Riverside wiretaps are supposed to be tied to crime within the county, but investigators have relied on them to make arrests and seize shipments of cash and drugs as far away as New York and Virginia, sometimes concealing the surveillance in the process.
The story points out that there are a lot of concerns about the surveillance – including from Justice Department lawyers in Los Angeles. Those lawyers have not been using the results in court as they have concluded the state court’s eavesdropping orders are unlikely to withstand a legal challenge – which would kind of defeat the whole purpose.
Riverside County’s district attorney Mike Hestrin told USA Today that he has enacted a “series of reforms” – which should lead to fewer taps in the future.
Former Riverside County District Attorney Paul Zellerbach said the wiretaps were needed because of budget cuts and led to significant arrests and seizures. Zellerbach said the wiretap operation is led by Deputy District Attorney, and former Survivor contestant, Deena Bennett.
When USA Today contacted Bennett about the story, she said, “the fact that you have my cellphone number is really harassment, and I’m going to report it.”
(I will allow you a moment to pause and reflect on the irony of that statement)
The entire story is really interesting and props to USA Today and The Desert Sun for covering it.