ACLU of Iowa calls for details on 'police phone tracking'

IOWA CITY - In a world where cell phones are everywhere, police officers and detectives can often use information from cell phones to find the clues and follow the leads that come in on crimes.

"Everybody's carrying a cell phone," said Iowa City police chief Sam Hargadine. "Those create digital records. A lot of times, after the fact, we will use that if it's the only evidence we've got."

Yet on Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa announced it has sent out requests to the police departments of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, Iowa City and Davenport, looking for each department to "release information on cell phone location tracking data used to monitor Iowans."

ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Randall Wilson said, in an interview on Wednesday night, that "police phone tracking is acceptable within the active investigation of a specific crime" but that general tracking of people is just "not acceptable."

"There is no presumption of guilt of law enforcement in this request," said Wilson. "It's to find out what's happening."

Both Hargadine and the Cedar Rapids Police Department said, as of Wednesday afternoon, they had not received a formal request from the ACLU of Iowa for the cell tracking information but both are aware of the story.

"There are right-to-privacy issues like any phone conversation," said Hargadine. "We don't eavesdrop on a phone without the proper court approval and, typically, that's done by other law enforcement agencies at the federal level."

Hargadine said many cases of cell phone tracking are based on the welfare of a person, such as if he or she is suicidal and there is an urgency to find that person.

"We're not in favor of tipping our hand to the criminal element," Hargadine said of any request to release cell phone tracking data. "Sometimes if it's the only lead we have, we're going to pursue that avenue."

Wilson said privacy is already being compromised, through search engines and social networking, but when government is behind it, it is worth a deeper look.

"We don't know what our government is doing because we don't have the temerity to ask and we should be asking questions," Wilson said.