Police Access to Phone Records (H 5869)

We opposed this legislation which would have given any police officer the authority currently given to high-ranking law enforcement personnel to obtain personally identifiable information from telecommunication companies without any judicial intervention.

Currently, the Attorney General, municipal police chiefs and a few other high-ranking law enforcement personnel have the authority to obtain from telecommunication companies, as a part of a certified investigation, the names, addresses, and phone numbers of individuals whose information is nonpublished. We opposed this legislation which would have given any police officer the same authority to obtain this information without any judicial intervention. Fortunately, the bill died in committee.