Trailing only Nevada and Colorado (See graphic), California had 11.7 mobile wiretap authorizations per 500,000 people. Due in part to its status as the most populous state in the U.S., California accounted for about 26% of the reported overall wiretap authorizations nationwide in 2013, according to Pew’s analysis.
Here are some other nuggets from Wiretap Report 2013.
The number of federal and state wiretaps reported in 2013 increased 5 percent from 2012. A total of 3,576 wiretaps were reported as authorized in 2013, with 1,476 authorized by federal judges and 2,100 authorized by state judges. Compared to the applications approved during 2012, the number approved by federal judges increased 9 percent in 2013, and the number approved by state judges rose 3 percent. One state wiretap application was denied in 2013. Drug offenses were the most prevalent type of criminal offenses investigated and the second-largest category of offenses investigated includes smuggling and money laundering offenses. The Wiretap Report does not include data on interceptions regulated by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The AO is not authorized to collect or report this data.
