Ronald Bailey flags a disquieting item:
Some 50 police agencies including U.S. marshals and the FBI have been using for two years Range-R doppler radar devices that can see 50 feet through walls, including brick and concrete ones, to detect the location of people inside their houses. And in some cases law enforcement officers are using with them without search warrants. As USA Today reports:
The radars were first designed for use in Iraq and Afghanistan. They represent the latest example of battlefield technology finding its way home to civilian policing and bringing complex legal questions with it….
Previous Dish on that trend here. Maria Santos notes regarding the radar device:
One appeals court case tackled the technology in December after police used the radar to arrest a man violating his parole. The court ultimately upheld law enforcement’s actions, but judges remarked that “the government’s warrantless use of such a powerful tool to search inside homes poses grave Fourth Amendment questions.” Justice Department officials are now reviewing the case.
The Dish 