Prosecutors Halt Vast, Likely Illegal DEA Wiretap Operation (usatoday.com)

schwit1 writes: Prosecutors in a Los Angeles suburb say they have dramatically scaled back a vast and legally questionable eavesdropping operation, built by federal drug agents, that once accounted for nearly a fifth of all U.S. wiretaps. The wiretapping, authorized by prosecutors and a single state-court judge in Riverside County, alarmed privacy advocates and even some U.S. Justice Department lawyers, who warned that it was likely illegal. An investigation last year by The Desert Sun and USA TODAY found that the operation almost certainly violated federal wiretapping laws, while using millions of secretly intercepted calls and texts to make hundreds of arrests nationwide. Riverside's district attorney, Mike Hestrin, acknowledged being concerned by the scope of that surveillance, and said he enacted "significant" reforms last summer to rein it in. Wiretap figures his office released this week offer the first evidence that the enormous eavesdropping program has wound down to more routine levels.

Comments

I'll wait patiently

[WaffleMonster]

For anyone responsible to even see a trial.

--
https://technet.microsoft.com/...

Re:I'll wait patiently

[whoever57]

I find that it is helpful not to wait for things that will never happen.

Re:Republicans don't give a damn about the law

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Paul Zellerbach, who instituted the wiretapping is a Republican.

But Mike Hestrin, who ousted him and is currently cleaning up his legacy, including the move to slash the wiretapping, is also a Republican.

So it looks to me like at least some Republicans give some sort of damn about the law.

(Not that I have any love of Republicans. Both major parties attract psychopaths - just different types.)

Re: NOT SO GOOD

[Anonymous Coward]

If the problem is illegal drugs then you have a pretty easy solution: legalize them.

Problem solved. And as an added bonus, you get a nice tax boost.

Re:The DEA has always led the attack on our rights

[PopeRatzo]

The DEA can go fuck themselves, as far as I'm concerned. Since their inception, they've been some of the worst abusers of the US population to date. They're huge proponents of such treats as early dawn no-knock raids, parallel construction (institutionalized perjury), the use of Stingray type devices, and the list goes on.

You can add property seizures without due process to the list, too.

Re:The DEA has always led the attack on our rights

[fnj]

As soon as we end this neo-prohibitionist bullshit and the jackbooted thugs that get off on it, we can have a better shot of rebuilding our country.

I wouldn't hold my breath. Cannabis was outlawed in many/most states from the mid-1930's until recently - and is still today outlawed in most states. That's 85 years. Federally it was (ludicrously) categorized as a Schedule 1 Substance by the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which is still in effect 46 years later. Category 1 is the same category as highly dangerous and addictive opioids and stimulants, as well as powerful psychedelics.

The Prohibition of alcohol only lasted 13 years.

Parallel construction is the the DEA's game.

[Rujiel]

Acquire evidence illegally, then use it to find something else you can burn the black guy over. The DEA is immoral and deceptive to its core, pretending to be an enemy of drugs all the while knowing damn well that if there were no drugs, there would be no DEA.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse

[penguinoid]

They say ignorance of the law is no excuse. When can we expect the prosecutions of those who broke the law to begin? Or all the retrials for convictions based on illegal evidence?