Bill Would Require Warrants Before Police Track Cell Phones

There might soon be new restrictions placed on police in Wisconsin who want to track down a crime suspect by using the GPS chip in the person’s cell phone.

It happens all the time in TV crime dramas. Police get the cell phone number of a suspect and immediately begin tracking the person’s location on a computerized map. There’s never a mention of getting a search warrant before the hunt begins.

Under current Wisconsin law, police can do exactly that, but under a bill now being considered by the state Legislature, police would have to get a warrant before tracking anyone’s cell phone.

The bill has bipartisan support and includes some minor exceptions. Republican state Rep. Rob Hutton said if police are looking for a missing person whose life might be in danger, they can track a phone without a warrant.

“Maybe it’s a teenager who’s been missing. The parents — who in that case would own that cell phone and be paying for that cell phone — they’d be able to give law enforcement the ability to actually go find out where that cell phone is located,” Hutton said. “Because time is of the essence in those cases, would be the presumption.”

Backers of the bill say if the bill passes, it’s unlikely police or cell phone companies will violate it because if police do any tracking without a warrant, the evidence would be thrown out in court.