STATE AUTHORITIES' WIRETAPPING UP

WASHINGTON - The number of wiretaps authorized by
state courts rose by 24 percent last year, while the number of
federally authorized wiretaps held steady, the government reported
Wednesday.

State courts authorized 763 wiretaps, compared with 617 the previous
year, according to figures released by the Administrative Office of
the U.S. Courts.

Federal courts authorized 566 such surveillance actions, about even
with the 569 authorized in 1997. That adds up to 1,329 wiretaps
authorized by federal and state courts in 1998, an increase from 1,186
last year.

A decade earlier, in 1988, there were 738 total wiretaps authorized,
including 293 permitted by federal courts and 445 by state courts.

Buggings in New York made up almost half of the state-authorized
wiretaps, with 373. New Jersey was next with 84, Pennsylvania followed
with 68, California had 52 and Florida had 44.

Seventy-two percent of all wiretaps were aimed at catching narcotics
offenders, while 12 percent were aimed at racketeering and 7 percent
at gambling. New York City's Special Narcotics Bureau got
authorization for 186 drug-related buggings.

Telephone wiretaps made up 40 percent of all devices installed, while
46 percent were electronic wiretaps of digital display pagers, voice
pagers, cellular phones and e-mail.

Forty-two states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands and the
federal government have laws allowing courts to permit some form of
bugging, and last year 25 states reported use of such
surveillance.

The average length of an initial wiretap was 28 days, and the average
length of an authorized extension was 27 days. Courts approved 1,164
extensions of existing wiretaps last year.

Officials said 3,450 people were arrested as a result of wiretaps that
ended in 1998, and 26 percent of them were convicted.

Federal and state judges are required to report to the Administrative
Office all applications for wiretap authorizations, and prosecutors
must report when a wiretap is ended.