Police Need Warrants for GPS Data, NJ Supreme Court Rules

The state Supreme Court overturned an appellate decision on a Middletown burglary case Thursday, ruling that police typically need a warrant to get cell phone location data.

In 2006, T-Mobile provided Middletown police with information about the whereabouts of Thomas W. Earls phone. The police used that information to locate Earls, who they believed was involved in home burglaries, at the Caprice Motel in Howell, according to the court ruling.

Earls pleaded guilty to burglary and theft and was sentenced to seven years in state prison, but he appealed the decision, a story in the Asbury Park Press said.

The arrest of Earls was ultimately nullified with the court ruling, which said citizens have an expectation of privacy to cell phone location data, and police are required to get a warrant to use that data based on probable cause.

The unanimous ruling will not be applied to past cases, but just this Middletown case and future cases.