Delaware State Police Stingrays
The Delaware State Police (DSP) possess cell site simulator technology (colloquially referred to as Stingrays) purchased from Harris Corporation. I filed a FOIA request in May 2015 to get details about their purchase and use of the technology, but they refused to provide information citing a non-disclosure agreement the FBI. With the help of Ryan Tack-Hooper and others at the ACLU of Delaware, two petitions have been considered by the Chief Deputy Attorney General (CDAG) and, and we sued DSP and the CDAG in Delaware Superior Court.
Documents
These documents were released:
- An NDA executed with the FBI
- Some redacted purchasing documents
- An NDA executed with Harris Corp.
- Three warrant applications/orders
Press
Karl Baker of The News Journal wrote a comprehensive front-page story and secondary article covering just about everything known about Stingrays in Delaware as of February 2016. In the same issue, the editorial board questioned the secrecy around and use of Stingrays. DSP released a statement a few days later which was covered by The News Journal. After the end of the lawsuit, The News Journal published a final story.
The Associated Press and The News Journal covered the Statement of Interest filed by the United States Department of Justice.
Mitch Blacher and the team from NBC10 Investigators did a story covering elements of the FOIA request and lawsuit.
Timeline
The table below provides links to all of the documents relevant to my request, petitions, and the ongoing appeal to have the requested records found and released without redaction.
| May 15, 2015 | Initial FOIA request sent to DSP. |
| June 5, 2015 | DSP replies, denying the request. |
| June 17, 2015 | I send the first FOIA petition to the CDAG. |
| June 23, 2015 | The CDAG acknowledges the FOIA petition. |
| July 16, 2015 | The CDAG’s office provides an update but fails to attach DSP’s response. |
| October 12, 2015 | The CDAG’s office confirms by phone that their opinion is still pending with no ETA, though it was due in July. |
| December 11, 2015 | ACLU-DE starts representing me and we send a letter to the CDAG’s office requesting that they release their opinion. |
| December 29, 2015 | The CDAG releases their opinion on my first petition, and requests that DSP release the FBI NDA. |
| January 15, 2016 | DSP releases the FBI NDA and some redacted purchasing documents. |
| January 19, 2016 | DSP sends a copy of their July 6 response to my petition that was not attached to the July 16 letter from the CDAG. |
| February 17, 2016 | We send a second petition to the CDAG. |
| February 26, 2016 | We file a notice of appeal, starting Rudenberg v. DOJ in Delaware Superior Court. |
| March 4, 2016 | The CDAG releases their opinion on our second petition. |
| March 29, 2016 | The DOJ files the certified record of the FOIA petitions. |
| April 22, 2016 | DSP provides a supplemental response to the FOIA request. |
| May 9, 2016 | We file our opening brief (exhibits, compendium). |
| May 26, 2016 | The CDAG files a letter about their intention not to participate in the case. |
| May 31, 2016 | DSP files their answering brief. |
| June 14, 2016 | We file our reply brief. |
| September 28, 2016 | The United States Department of Justice files a statement of interest and two declarations one week before a scheduled oral hearing of the case. |
| September 30, 2016 | The Court requests memorandum letters about preliminary issues related to the Statement of Interest of the United States. |
| October 12, 2016 | We file our letter about the preliminary issues. |
| October 31, 2016 | DSP files their letter about the preliminary issues. |
| December 30, 2016 | The Court issues a memorandum opinion on consideration of the Statement of Interest of the United States and requests a supplemental briefing. |
| January 13, 2017 | We file our supplemental brief covering the three additional issues. |
| January 23, 2017 | DSP files their supplemental brief covering the additional issues. |
| February 2, 2017 | We file our supplemental reply brief covering the additional issues. |
| February 27, 2017 | Oral argument was held in Delaware Superior Court. |
| March 22, 2017 | As part of a settlement, an NDA executed with Harris Corp., and three warrant applications/orders are released |
| May 8, 2017 | The settlement is finalized, including a clarification with the Attorney General as to how FOIA appeals and lawsuits should work in Delaware. |
If you would like to embed these documents, they are available on DocumentCloud and MuckRock.