Wiretap Report 2012
Homeland Security Digital Library Blog 2013-07-03
Summary:
The Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AO) has released its Wiretap Report for 2012. The annual report to Congress examines "the number of federal and state 'applications for orders authorizing or approving the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications'". The report also provides information on the number of orders and extensions granted or denied during the previous year as well as the cost of intercepts, the methods of surveillance, and arrests and convictions.
This year, the report found that the "number of federal and state wiretaps reported in 2012 increased 24 percent from 2011. A total of 3,395 wiretaps were reported as authorized in 2012–1,354 authorized by federal judges and 2,041 by state judges. Compared to the applications approved during 2011, the number approved by federal judges increased 71 percent in 2012, and the number approved by state judges rose 5 percent."
Additionally, encryption was reported for 15 wiretaps in 2012, and in four of these wiretaps, "officials were unable to decipher the plain text of the messages. This is the first time that jurisdictions have reported that encryption prevented officials from obtaining the plain text of the communications since the AO began collecting encryption data in 2001."
The report concludes by stressing the significance of wiretapping to law enforcement: "Federal and state prosecutors often discuss the importance of wiretap surveillance as an investigative tool. A wiretap in the Eastern District of California uncovered incriminating cellular telephone communications and text messages that led to the arrest of 32 individuals and the seizure of 19 vehicles, 35 firearms, $650,000 in cash, approximately 5,000 marijuana plants, and about 200 pounds of processed marijuana. At the state level, a wiretap in Orange County, California, was instrumental in solving a cold homicide case that occurred in 1988. Without the interceptions, the targeted subjects probably would not have been arrested and would have escaped prosecution."