Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYPD Building Massive Cell Phone Database
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 8, 2009
Modified Oct 8, 2009
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 8, 2009
Modified Oct 8, 2009
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Days after the NYPD announced plans to expand their anti-terror surveillance network to a huge swath of midtown, it's been revealed that the department is also quickly amassing a vast database of cell phone users. Officers have been instructed to remove suspects' cell phone batteries when making an arrest, for the twofold purpose of "avoiding leakage" and also documenting the phone's International Mobile Equipment Identity number [IMEI]. The IMEI number is registered with the service provider whenever a call is made, and can be used to connect the dots between suspects. Naturally, the NYCLU is pissed.
Christopher Dunn at the NYCLU tells the Daily News he's troubled that the NYPD is "taking phones apart to get information" without warrants: "It's hard to believe they feel there's a real need to take out the battery to prevent leakage. Instead, it looks like they're doing this to circumvent the warrant process." But an NYPD source insists the information is just used to build cases, not to create some kind of dystopian Orwellian police state, so stop being so paranoid!
The IMEI numbers will join a database of more than 20 million 911 callers, amassed for the Real Time Crime Center, a computer "nerve center" with information on millions of state criminal, parole and probation records; city criminal complaints and summonses, including 311 calls about specific locations; over 31 million national crime records; and more than 33 billion public records. At least those were the numbers when it opened in 2005.
Tagged
cell phone
numbers
nyc
nyclu
nypd
police state
surveillance
tracking
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Brooklyn school dean says MTA officers assaulted him over a $3 bus fare he says he paid
Kyle Taylor, a dean at Mott Bridges Academy, says he made a legal bus transfer.
By
Carol Chen
Published Oct 14, 2026 at 4:51 p.m. ET
National Grid customers in NYC will see higher gas bills this winter
Due to higher delivery fees, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island customers will likely see their bills increase by an average of $87 this winter.
By
Rosemary Misdary
News
National Grid customers in NYC will see higher gas bills this winter
Due to higher delivery fees, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island customers will likely see their bills increase by an average of $87 this winter.
By
Rosemary Misdary
Bruce Blakeman joins Gov. Hochul in support for expanding NY rape law
By
Jon Campbell
2 men accused of stabbing off-duty NYPD detective in the Bronx plead not guilty
By
Charles Lane
and
Brittany Kriegstein
Man who pushed his baby and her mother from a Bronx balcony arraigned from psych ward
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .