Cell phones and the law

Police say cell phones are involved in just about every major case they investigate including identity theft to sex crimes, even homicides.

Police say suspects in crimes often leave evidence of their misdeeds locked inside their smart phones.

“People like to document their crimes,” said Palm Springs Police Department spokesman, William Hutchinson. “They like to communicate via their phones via all forms of Apps, Facebook or Snapchat or numerous websites they communicate on,” Hutchinson added.

A suspect’s phone can be a goldmine for law enforcement because they hold text messages, phone call records, videos and images, even where the phone is located.

But these newer apps and technologies make it more difficult for police to know where to look to get access to them.

Indio Police Department spokesman, Dan Marshall, said, “Who knows where they can come up with. Periscope is one of your off shoot apps that leads to Slingshot, Bobsled and all that other stuff.”

Marshall cited a case in the news last month where an Ohio woman is accused of using the social media app Periscope to live-stream a friend’s rape.

In 2012, several men were convicted in the killing of a Palm Springs man, Clifford Lambert.

Police say they tracked the suspect’s movements using their phones.

Hutchinson said, “The technology exists to get into the phones, and again it may take us a little bit of time, but we will be able to get into those phones.”

KESQ attempted to talk about this with the Riverside County Sheriffs Department and with the District Attorney’s Office about a new law that took effect in January called the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

Both agencies declined our interview requests.

The California Electronic Communications Privacy Act protects the public from overzealous law enforcement, now requiring a search warrant for police to peak inside anyone’s phone, or other tech product.

Indio’s Dan Marshall says the law was needed.

“You could generate a search warrant for cell phone records and get stacks and stacks of information,” Marshall said. “And you’re looking for one page,” he added.

State lawmakers agreed, so much information in people’s cell phones should be protected from prying eyes.

Today, police now have to declare specifically what exactly they’re looking for, whether it’s a phone’s record of calls, texts, app information or photos and videos.

It was call records police say helped them investigate an Indio man, David Anthony Hurtado, in the ambush of two C-H-P officers during a traffic stop in the east valley.

Detectives examined his call records. Hurtado later pleaded guilty in court.

The new law brings additional work for police.

“There’s a lot of extra work,” said Hutchinson. “There are some things, some notifications, that might jeopardize an investigation,” he added.

Marshall agrees the law may be too restrictive, but thinks it will eventually work well for police and the public.

“Through cases through people putting in the action, they’ll find a way, it’ll get back to the middle,” said Marshall.

That could be critical to victims for prosecution or families of crime victims wanting to know what a suspect is hiding inside their phone.