Riverside County District Attorney looks to reduce the number of wiretaps performed in county

Its a dubious distinction for Riverside County.

Law enforcement officials secretly listen to more phone calls here than in any other county in the country. The tactic is called “wiretapping”.

Riverside County has emerged as the clear, and undisputed leader for wiretapping. The number of wiretaps in the county over a recent three year period paint a startling picture.

In 2012, the county authorized wiretapping 305 phone lines. In 2013, there were three 329.

In 2014, there were 624 wiretaps, which was the highest number in the country, and more than three times the number authorized in Los Angeles County.

District Attorney Mike Hestrin took office in January, 2015.

“When you look at the number, and you say you know, we were the highest in the country, so what is the right number? I don’t know what the right number is. What I can tell you is that number, and us being the highest in the country, it did raise red flags for me,” said Hestrin.

For an investigator to get clearance to tap a phone line, they put in a request to the District Attorney, and from there, the request is forwarded to a judge for final approval.

Riverside County’s previous District Attorney, Paul Zellerbach, and Hestrin, both say the biggest reason for the relatively high number of wiretaps has to do with how the county serves as a major distribution hub for criminals trafficking illegal narcotics.

“The Coachella Valley, like the rest of Riverside County, is open to being a distribution hub or center for the cartels because of our geography. But particularly the Coachella Valley because of the wide open spaces, and some areas are sparsely populated. The cartels and traffickers put stash houses out in regular neighborhoods in the Coachella Valley and its a big problem,” said Hestrin.

After taking office in January, 2015, Hestrin responded to critics who said there was too much wiretapping in the county by adopting a new policy late in the year.

He now personally reviews all requests, and says he will only forward a request to a judge, if the suspected criminal activity has a “direct connection” to Riverside County.

Hestrin believes his new approach will significantly reduce the number of wiretaps in the county each year.

“We have to be careful with this power. It is a significant power and it is one that has to be limited it in its use in Riverside County. In other words, the ones we are going to approve have to be from Riverside County, the crime itself,” said Hestrin.

An attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation is highly critical of how wiretapping is approved and conducted in the county and elsewhere.

The EFF’s Jennifer Lynch is among the critics who point to what they call a lack of transparency, oversight and accountability.

“I think a real question here is were the wiretaps issued lawfully, and that is hard question to find an answer to, because most wiretap orders are sealed. That points to a larger problem in our system where these orders are sealed, and they remain sealed, and they’re kept from the public, and they’re kept from defense attorneys and judges,” said Lynch.

Lynch believes more transparency would lead to less wiretapping, and said wiretap orders should be required to be unsealed automatically after a certain period of time.

She also says law enforcement should be required to prove why certain orders should not be unsealed in certain cases.

But the DA feels otherwise, saying “secrecy is necessary” for wiretapping to produce results.

“It is a tool. It is a tool that needs to be respected, and not overused and certainly never abused, but it is a tool that law enforcement uses in the fight against crime,” said Hestrin.

The State Attorney General’s report on wiretapping in California for 2015 has not yet been released.

However, a preliminary count for Riverside County for the year shows 640 wiretap requests approved.

The DA expects that number to drop sharply in 2016 because of his new policy.