BILL REQ. #:  S-3416.1 

Read first time 01/12/2004.   Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

     AN ACT Relating to authorization of electronic tracking devices for law enforcement purposes; adding a new section to chapter 10.79 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 10.79 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) A law enforcement officer may apply for and the superior court may issue orders and extensions of orders authorizing the installation and use of electronic tracking devices, including but not limited to global positioning satellite devices, as provided in this section. The application shall be under oath and shall include the identity of the officer making the application and the identity of the law enforcement agency conducting the investigation. The applicant must certify that the information likely to be obtained is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by that agency.
     (2) If the court finds that the information likely to be obtained by such installation and use is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation and finds that there is probable cause to believe that the electronic tracking device will lead to obtaining evidence of a crime, contraband, fruits of crime, things criminally possessed, weapons, or other things by means of which a crime has been committed or reasonably appears about to be committed, or will lead to learning the location of a person who is unlawfully restrained or reasonably believed to be a witness in a criminal investigation or for whose arrest there is probable cause, the court shall enter an ex parte order authorizing the installation and use of an electronic tracking device.
The order shall specify:
     (a) The identity, if known, of the person who is the subject of the criminal investigation; and
     (b) A statement of the offense to which the information likely to be obtained by the electronic tracking device relates.
     An order issued under this section shall authorize the installation and use of an electronic tracking device for a period not to exceed sixty days. An extension of the original order may only be granted upon: A new application for an order under subsection (1) of this section; and a showing that there is a probability that the information or items sought under this subsection are more likely to be obtained under the extension than under the original order. The period of extension shall be for a period not to exceed sixty days. An order authorizing or approving the installation and use of an electronic tracking device shall direct that the order be sealed until otherwise ordered by the court.
     (3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a law enforcement officer and a prosecuting attorney or deputy prosecuting attorney who jointly and reasonably determine that there is probable cause to believe that an emergency situation exists that involves immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury to any person that requires the installation and use of an electronic tracking device before an order authorizing such installation and use can, with due diligence, be obtained, and there are grounds upon which an order could be entered under this chapter to authorize such installation and use, may have installed and used an electronic tracking device if, within forty-eight hours after the installation has occurred, or begins to occur, an order approving the installation or use is issued in accordance with subsection (2) of this section. In the absence of an authorizing order, such use shall immediately terminate when the information sought is obtained, when the application for the order is denied, or when forty-eight hours have lapsed since the installation of the electronic tracking device, whichever is earlier. If an order approving the installation or use is not obtained within forty-eight hours, any information obtained is not admissible as evidence in any legal proceeding. The knowing installation or use by any law enforcement officer of an electronic tracking device pursuant to this subsection without application for the authorizing order within forty-eight hours of the installation shall constitute a violation of this chapter and be punishable as a gross misdemeanor.