A recent article in Slate caught my eye. Writer Ryan Gallagher brought to light a gray area regarding private investigators and the use of GPS tracking equipment.
He talks about a January ruling by the Supreme Court, saying it “held that law enforcement use of GPS trackers to monitor movements constitutes a ‘search.’”
It brought to light the importance of working with a professional private investigator. Because works with attorneys and clients around the nation and globe, we are very diligent about staying on top of the laws and regulations regarding investigative techniques – and act accordingly.
This doesn’t only apply to GPS tracking devices, it applies to other areas such as cellular forensics. There are very specific processes and protocols for acquiring devices for mobile phone forensic analysis. Cell phone legal compliance includes not only the acquisition of the phone, but of the records from carriers in order to include forensic cellular evidence in a court of law.
For example, there is very specific subpoena language for cell records and subpoena language for messages that must be used in order for evidence to be collected and used in court. We also know that each carrier requires certain information and language used in what are known as preservation letters. Cellphone records are not maintained by carriers forever. There is a short window of time and then they are destroyed. In order to use wireless forensics as a tool, the records must be preserved for later cell phone investigation.
Some people don’t realize that other subpoenas are necessary. It is necessary to subpoena records for blocked caller and subpoena records for restricted callers. Following the rules and regulations of cellular phone forensics, we are able to peel back blocked calls and get the identity of restricted call records.
Providing professional cellphone expert investigation makes an important partner for many attorneys and their clients. Because when we are in cell phone legal compliance, the forensic cellular evidence we uncover is admissible in court and can be critical to a case.
Knowing the law – and working within it – is what we do here at and we take it very seriously.
-Brenda McGinley, CEO, All in Investigations, All in Investigations