Data and DNA Privacy
The public and Legislature agree that new technologies can and should change the criminal investigative process. Our work in this area is focused on safeguarding privacy and due process, advocating for advancements in technology to be balanced against the protection of constitutional rights.
Geofence warrants
Our organization believes that geofence warrants open the door to unconstitutional violations of privacy.
Geofence warrants, or reverse-location warrants, are a type of warrant that allow police officers to search for suspects by location database. The information in the database is collected through mobile phones and allows law enforcement to see who was in a certain area at a certain time. Unlike warrants allowed under the Fourth Amendment, geofence warrants implicate individuals based solely on location, not on probable cause.
How are geofence warrants used in Utah?
H.B. 57 Law Enforcement Investigation Amendments, passed in 2023, created a three-step process for law enforcement to generate geofence-retrieved information, each step of which must be approved by a magistrate. It also establishes law enforcement reporting requirements for reverse-location warrants. While our organization does not support the implicit legitimization of geofence warrants, we do think that the provisions in this bill were an improvement on current practice.
Recent bills impacting electronic data
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S.B. 219 expands the class B misdemeanor offense of privacy violation to include using advanced technological instrumentality to detect, observe, measure, map, or otherwise capture information or data about the property or characteristics of the property of another for which the property owner has an expectation of privacy.
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S.B. 226 specifies the types of electronic data that can be collected by law enforcement without a warrant. It also states that the automobile exception to the warrant requirement is inapplicable to electronic data stored on devices found in a car.
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S.B. 250 prohibits a governmental entity from implementing technologies to create a public network of surveillance footage or to contract with a private entity to gather surveillance footage.
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S.B. 231 prohibits a governmental entity from obtaining biometric surveillance information without a warrant. Our organization advocated for language that clearly defines situations where a warrant is not needed.
DNA analysis and preservation
Recent bills impacting DNA analysis and preservation
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H.B. 19 allows for a DNA sample to be processed if sixty days have passed since the issuance of an arrest warrant for failure to appear.
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H.B. 65 requires that biological evidence connected to felony charges must be preserved for either the length of the statute of limitations, the length of time the defendant is in custody, or the length of time a co-defendant is in custody. We maintained a neutral position on this bill, since it concerns the establishment of both innocence and guilt for defendants.