Secret Military Device ‘Hailstorm’ Used By Michigan Police, FOIA Request By Detroit News Denied

Military technology finds its way in to the hands of the local police again.

‘HailStorm’ is a new device obtained by the Oakland County Sheriff with monies from a U.S. Homeland Security Grant and so far, there isn’t much information available on what exactly it can and cannot do. There were no questions asked when Oakland County commissioners unanimously approved the use of this cellphone tracking device previously used by the US military in Iraq.

Undersheriff Michael McCabe told The Detroit News that the federal Homeland Security Act bars him from discussing the Hailstorm device.

The Detroit news tried to find out more with a freedom of information
request but the county refused using the Homeland Security Act of 2002
to keep any details of hailstorm secret.

The police clam that “Hailstorm helps us capture fugitives from the law,
people wanted for murder and rape” but the way it was used in Iraq was
to help drone strikes hit a target using meta data from a cell phone.

So this would also be a very useful thing to have if any civil unrest brakes out
as protesters or person of interest could be tracked down when they own
phone starts acting like a homing beacon.
Pontiactribune
Detroitnews

Wrap your cellular device in aluminum foil when you're not using it then. Sure you may look like some sort of crazy person, but no sort of signal is going through wrinkled up aluminum foil. In fact, if someone calls you while your phone is wrapped, you wont even receive a missed call notification.

You may have to power cycle your device to get it working properly again.

Hopefully when (if) it breaks out this device will be rendered useless as every fool in town knows to ditch the phone prior to participating in some anarchy. IMO this will eventually be used to arrest people that are on the way to pick up their local drug or ho of choice.

The cops (do) will have a list of target phone numbers that likely is directly linked to Hailstorm. Walk with-in range of a cop car with this device and boom your number comes up in bright red letters.....

While many think this is a big conspiracy I personally think that anytime technology will allow such a device, it will be used to create such a device. It is in the nature of man to invent and when you have legions of people whose sole job is to fight Terrorism "Domestic or Abroad". then you will continue to be faced with ever invasive technology whose sole purpose is to find and fight terror in any way it may be formed.

Scary as hell when you think about it as people are already going to jail for thought crimes. Are movies like Minority Report a scary foretelling of the future? I think so. Sci-fi eventually becomes Sci-Reality it happens over and over again.

Bye bye to the Fourth in that town. Who needs warrants with this gizmo on the ride along.

a reply to: [post=17940681]skuly[/post


I'm actually from Michigan and a lot of people don't know that Detroit actually has a lot to offer. However....


With that being said there is a lot of reasons not to go to Detroit. I guess we can add this one to the list.

The only winners will be Harris corp...whatever in the long run. More stupid stuff. Tweet tweet in a code, make it up as you go along, any subject matter will do. I'll give it about five minutes useful time.

This is used all over, not just Detroit. Mostly in the name of the War on Drugs!

I have had a friend who has been busted in the past call me. I am the kind of person who always keeps the GPS and bluetooth off on my phone, when the conversation was over my GPS and sometimes bluetooth is activated and on. This has happened several times to me, not a coincidence.

I'm in Michigan too.Unless we're being overrun by"fugitives,rapists"etc.do the police really need an ear on EVERY phone in range?I'm thinking they don't.

Big brother is watching.

George Orwell, why did you have to be right dammit?

They can also block all calls that don't have a certain identifier when they feel like it. That's another story

originally posted by: mikell
They can also block all calls that don't have a certain identifier when they feel like it. That's another story

I missed that, that's interesting, that's a kind of perfidia.

a reply to: skuly

It seems like everyday you hear about our government using new technology to spy on our private conversations. Our constitutional rights are clearly being encroached upon, using the Patriot Act to justify it's illegal acts of spying on the American public. One day the word "privacy" will be a thing of the past, if it hasn't already reached that point.

Well at least the people know what to target come shtf time....take down the cell towers and whata ya got?

Great! A whole new section of the populace will be joining the ranks of the unemployed; snitches will no longer be needed by LEO's. We will be our own snitches!

That's got to make for an interesting trial. How can one properly defend yourself in court if the very means of your defense might hinge on a technology your not allowed to know about. That's why we shouldn't be using classified spy tech on our own people. Could you imagine a speeding ticket where the cop says just trust me I know I got you but I won't be able to tell you how just take your ticket and move along...all because a radar gun was never declassified. Good god even Orwell would be astonished we got so far so fast.

originally posted by: stirling
Well at least the people know what to target come shtf time....take down the cell towers and whata ya got?

Learn how it works and use their own technology against them.

I could see using a "fugitives" phone as bait for a trap.....

Technology is always a double edged sword, everything has a weakness to exploit.

originally posted by: RickyD
That's got to make for an interesting trial. How can one properly defend yourself in court if the very means of your defense might hinge on a technology your not allowed to know about. That's why we shouldn't be using classified spy tech on our own people. Could you imagine a speeding ticket where the cop says just trust me I know I got you but I won't be able to tell you how just take your ticket and move along...all because a radar gun was never declassified. Good god even Orwell would be astonished we got so far so fast.

This has happened before. There are Americans in jail right now for crimes they supposedly committed based on evidence they weren't allowed to hear because it was labeled secret by the NSA. Only certain judges cleared for access are allowed to hear the cases.

Kind of makes you rethink that whole right to a fair trial thing doesn't it?

a reply to: skuly
I did a little research when I read this post. I did not realise that the Military had been giving police surplus weapons since 1990. I saw this article in a UK newspaper about a police department getting a mine resistant vehicle and the sheriff saying that they needed it because of the number of Vets returning home with the capability of defeating law enforcement.
fox59.com...
This links to the video of him actually saying this.
www.dailymail.co.uk... q-Afghanistan.html
Link to the UK newspaper article.

a reply to: skuly

I bet this gadget does not work too well when all cellular traffic is being jammed from multiple sources!

Deny the buggers access to your phones and tablets!