Geofence Search Warrants & Tower Dumps: How Law Enforcement Gets Them, Trial Techniques For Fighting Them

by Morley Swingle

January 6, 2021 crashed into the Fourth Amendment's right to privacy as investigators used the events of that day to get a geofence search warrant identifying 1,498 people who overran the Capitol building. This massive geofence warrant tested the restrictions of the Fourth Amendment on the ability of law enforcement to force Google to reveal a person's location at a specific time and place.The first geofence search warrant was issued in 2016. By 2021, Google was responding to 11,000 geofence warrant requests per year from law enforcement officers wanting a list of cell phones at a crime scene at the time a crime was being committed.

This new aspect of Fourth Amendment constitutional law is exciting and complex. If you are a law enforcement officer, prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer, judge, or citizen who cares about the constitutional right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment, you need to read this book.

In Geofence Search Warrants & Tower Dumps, veteran prosecutor and award-winning author, Morley Swingle provides a groundbreaking look at this emerging and controversial development in Fourth Amendment constitutional law.

Armed with 30 years of experience litigating criminal cases (including 178 jury trials and 111 homicides), Swingle applied for and secured both geofence and tower dump search warrants. He not only explains the constitutional issues presented, but also provides sample forms for law enforcement officers, and a sample motion to suppress for defense lawyers.

This authoritative book speeds up the learning curve for any prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer, police officer or judge faced with the challenge of a geofence or tower dump search warrant.

“Morley Swingle’s Geofence Search Warrants & Tower Dumps is the best book I’ve seen for police officers who want to understand geofence and tower dump search warrants. He tells you everything you need to know on the hot topics of cell tower dumps and geofence warrants. He writes in a style that is both easy to read and even funny at times. I highly recommend this book.” Dr. Carl A. Kinnison, Ret. Chief of Police, Cape Girardeau Police Dept., Ret. Director, Southeast Missouri State University Law Enforcement Academy“Swingle provides a succinct, even entertaining, summary of Fourth Amendment law as it applies to geofence warrants and tower dumps. This book will help prosecutors, criminal defense lawyers and judges understand this fast-growing area of the law.” Robert H. Dierker, Jr., Missouri Circuit Judge, retired, author Missouri Criminal Practice Handbook

“Morley Swingle proves that some lawyers can actually write entertainingly.” Harry Levins, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

212 pages, Paperback

Published November 30, 2023

About the author

Morley Swingle is a former prosecutor now writing mystery/thrillers and law books. As both a state and federal prosecutor, he personally prosecuted 111 homicide cases and tried 178 jury trials. His cases have been featured on Dateline, Forensic Files and Oprah. His historical mystery thrillers include The Gold of Cape Girardeau (praised as absorbing courtroom drama by Elmore Leonard) and Bootheel Man (finalist for the 2008 William Rockhill Nelson Award for fiction). His true crime memoir Scoundrels to the Hoosegow was called “engrossing” and “highly recommended” by Vincent Bugliosi. His short story “Hard Blows” in the Mystery Writers of America anthology The Prosecution Rests was singled out by Publisher’s Weekly as “dramatizing the challenges prosecutors encounter.” His collection of 16 short stories won the 2024 Firebird Award for Crime Fiction. His law books teach search and seizure law and evidence with a dose of humor. Although relatively well-liked for a prosecutor, he occasionally found it necessary to wear a bullet-proof vest.

Reviews

[John Williams]

Interesting read for the layman.

Very well written for everyone. I have an appreciation for what goes into these warrants. I recommend it to interested in how things really work.

[Harry M. Caplan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Informative in this day and age. The new technology is amazing.A must read.