
NC Police Issued Warrants to Search Data on All Google Devices Near Murder Scene - ourmandave
https://gizmodo.com/north-carolina-police-issued-sweeping-warrants-to-searc-1823845667
======
DrScump
Since when are _police_ empowered to issue their own warrants? (As opposed to
a _judge_ )

~~~
greenyoda
I believe that the headline is intended to be read as:

"NC Police _Were_ Issued Warrants to Search Data on All Google Devices Near
Murder Scene"

Headlines are frequently written in terse language to save space. In this
case, I'd guess that the editors assumed that since everyone knows that judges
issue warrants, the intent would be clear.

~~~
DrScump
Within the article text:

    
    
      WRAL reporter Tyler Dukes found four investigations in 2017 where **police issued these uniquely extensive warrants**...

~~~
greenyoda
Sorry, I missed that sentence. It seems like sloppy or ignorant reporting. The
original WRAL investigation referenced by this article makes it clear that a
judge issued the warrant:

> _" On a satellite image, they drew shapes around the crime scenes, marking
> the coordinates on the map. Then they convinced a Wake County judge they had
> enough probable cause to order Google to hand over account identifiers on
> every single cell phone that crossed the digital cordon during certain
> times."_[1]

The WRAL article, in turn, links to the actual warrant, which is indeed signed
by a judge.[2]

So in this case, the HN guideline that asks us to "submit the original source"
would have resulted in a higher quality article that would have avoided all
this confusion.

[1] [http://www.wral.com/to-find-suspects-police-quietly-turn-
to-...](http://www.wral.com/to-find-suspects-police-quietly-turn-to-
google/17377435) (which someone submitted earlier:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16604181](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16604181))

[2]
[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4388571-20170308-hom...](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4388571-20170308-homicide-
warrant.html#document/p5/a410668)

