Geofence Search Warrants & Tower Dumps

Summary

January 6, 2021 crashed into the Fourth Amendment’s right to privacy as investigators used the events of that day to get a geofence search warrant identifying 1,498 people who overran the Capitol building. This massive geofence warrant tested the restrictions of the Fourth Amendment on the ability of law enforcement to force Google to reveal a person’s location at a specific time and place.

The first geofence search warrant was issued in 2016. By 2021, Google was responding to 11,000 geofence warrant requests per year from police officers wanting a list of cell phones at a crime scene at the time the crime was being committed.

This new aspect of Fourth Amendment constitutional law is exciting and complex. If you are a law enforcement officer, prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer, judge, or citizen who cares about the constitutional right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment, you need to read this book.

In Geofence Search Warrants & Tower Dumps, veteran prosecutor and award-winning author Morley Swingle provides a groundbreaking look at this emerging and controversial development in Fourth Amendment law.

“Swingle provides a succinct, even entertaining, summary of Fourth Amendment law as it applies to geofence warrants and tower dumps. This book will help prosecutors, criminal defense lawyers and judges understand this fast-growing area of the law.” Robert H. Dierker, Missouri Circuit Judge, retired, author of Missouri Criminal Practice Handbook

“Morley Swingle’s Geofence Search Warrants & Tower Dumps is the best book I’ve seen for police officers who want to understand geofence and tower dump search warrants. He writes in a style that is both easy to read and even funny at times. I highly recommend this book.” Dr. Carl A. Kinnison, Ret. Chief of Police, Cape Girardeau Police Dept., Ret. Director, Southeast Missouri State University Law Enforcement Academy