The Vallejo City Council has agreed to spend $766,018 with KeyE Corp. for the Vallejo Police Department to use a cellular site simulator, a device that masquerades as a cell tower.
All cellphones actively ping a cell tower allowing the user to text, call or use their data. When deployed, a simulator acts as a cell tower, diverting cell signals to the simulator.
In a report to the council, police staff said the simulator would capture only international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) numbers and not telephone numbers. IMSI are unique 15-digit numbers assigned to a SIM card within a cellphone.
“This technology, for a short-staffed police department, is a force multiplier that will help us for crime reduction,” Police Chief Shawny Williams said during last Tuesday's meeting.
Williams said the department borrowed a similar device last fall, resulting in the arrest of four homicide suspects over two months.
He noted that a search warrant must be obtained from a judge before the simulator can be used.
However, a group called Oakland Privacy asked the council not to approve buying the simulator.
“Cell site simulators pose profound civil liberties issues,” the group wrote in an email to the council. “While we are not opposed to using the technology in limited circumstances, under warrant, to locate and apprehend those posing a significant risk to the community, the potential for abusing this powerful tool is high. Cell site simulators have the ability to eavesdrop on calls and text messages, limited not by hardware but by software configuration, which can easily be modified.”
The group also said that the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, the Oakland Police Department and the Fremont Police Department all shared a simulator, using it a combined eight times in three years.
The $766,018 contract includes purchase of a vehicle for $120,000, installation of the equipment in the vehicle, training, software updates, and a three-year warranty.
Williams said a usage log and an annual report will be created, which will be publicly available on the city’s website.
Funds from the purchase will come from three different sources: about $400,000 from the city’s general fund, $204,000 from various law enforcement grants, and $162,000 from asset forfeiture.
©2020 Times-Herald (Vallejo, Calif.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
