Baltimore approves $920,000 contract to upgrade cellphone tracking technology used by city’s police

Baltimore will spend nearly $1 million to update a cellphone tracking technology that police use to collect select data from phones and that has been the subject of litigation. The $920,000 purchase from Cognyte Software will upgrade the city’s stingray technology, which works by mimicking a cellphone tower and tricking all phones within a range of up to a mile to connect with it. The suitcase-sized device allows police to record a phone’s location and number as well as the numbers of outgoing calls and texts.