Wiretap Report 2016
U.S. Courts released its annual wiretap report for 2016. Some of the findings include:
- 3,168 wiretaps were reported as authorized.
- 1,551 wiretaps were authorized by federal judges and 1,617 were authorized by state judges.
- Two wiretap applications were reported as denied.
- The total number of federal and state wiretaps decreased 24 percent from 2015.
- The number of federally approved wiretaps increased by 11 percent.
- The number of state-approved wiretaps decreased by 41 percent.
- Wiretap applications in six states (California, New York, Colorado, Nevada, Florida, and New Jersey) accounted for 82 percent of all state wiretaps.