Without a warrant, police use radar device to peer inside homes

More than 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have outfitted their officers with a new radar device that can detect movements within a building from as much as 50 feet away, USA Today reported Tuesday.

Agencies, including the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service, have been using the Range-R motion detector over the course of the last two years. L-3 Communications, the radar systems’ maker, told USA Today that it sold nearly 200 devices for $6,000 each to the agencies, while officials records reveal that the Marshals Service, in particular, has spent at least $180,000 for the radars since 2012.

According to the manufacturer’s site, “the sensitivity of the Range-R is sufficient to detect people breathing, making it difficult for individuals to hide from Range-R,” adding that the device won’t penetrate metal, but “will penetrate most common building wall, ceiling or floor types.”

Officials have maintained that the device helps officers stay safe in raids, but a case in Denver, where officers used the Range-R to capture a man who violated his parole, raised some eyebrows. A federal appeals court ruled in December that the government’s “warrantless use of such a powerful tool to search inside homes poses grave Fourth Amendment questions.”

“New technologies bring with them not only new opportunities for law enforcement to catch criminals, but also new risks for abuse and new ways to invade constitutional rights,” the court’s decision read.

USA Today also points out that the Range-R’s usage raises privacy concerns, especially when a 2001 Supreme Court ruling barred police from using thermal scanners outside a house without a warrant. More so, the justices expanded the ruling to include any “sense-enhancing technology” being developed.