It's just past midnight and three drive-by shooting just occurred in your city. As luck would have it, no witnesses can be found to identify the vehicle; the victims are not talking. Lacking leads, this case could be unsolvable. A geofence warrant may be the only solution.
We make writing geofence warrants as easy as Point, Click, Warrant. Warrant Builder puts decades of warrant writing and cybercrime investigation expertise at the fingertips of every officer, empowering them to tackle any investigation no matter how complicated. Warrant Builder helps law enforcement create both Advanced Location Tower Dump and Google geofence warrants with integrated mapping and return analysis tools.
A geofence warrant is a legal order obtained by law enforcement agencies to collect data from electronic devices within a specific geographical area during a particular timeframe. It allows investigators to acquire information such as GPS coordinates, timestamps, and other relevant data from mobile devices, wearables, and connected cars that may be present within the designated area.
The process begins by establishing a virtual perimeter, known as a geofence, using GPS coordinates. The warrant specifies the area and time period during which data will be collected. For Advanced Location Tower Dump, both AT&T and T-Mobile require a radius from a point; Google allows for shapes like squares and polygons. In our drive-by shooting case, a perimeter around the three victim's residence would be created. When the geofence process is complete, a phone that was found in all three locations may be identified; thats your suspect.
Looking for a Google geofence warrant primer? Check out our deep dive blog post: Writing Google Geofence Search Warrants.