WIRETAP REQUESTS HIT RECORD

Two million private conversations were monitored in '97, a government
report shows.

Washington- Law enforcement agents sought a record number of court orders
last year to allow them to listen in secretly on more than 2 million
private conversations, a government wiretap report shows.

The 1,186 wiretap requests approved by federal and state judges in 1997
marked a 3 percent increase over 1996 and surpassed the 1,154 logged in
1994. The total is believed to be the highest since Congress in 1968
started requiring the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to compile
such records.

As in past years, the bulk of the wiretap requests - 73 percent - were
spurred by narcotics investigations. Other crimes cited most often included
gambling and racketeering.

The telephone wiretap was the most common device used, but other
surveillance tools were authorized as well.

Investigators actually installed 1,094 wiretaps, and each intercepted an
average of 2,081 conversations - a total of 2.27 million. Only in 1994 were
more conversations - 2.35 million - subjected to reported government
snooping.

Federal judges authorized 569 wiretaps; state judges 617. The most orders
were issued in New York (304), New Jersey (70) and Florida (57).
California, the nation's most populous state, ranked fifth with 29
authorized requests. Pennsylvania was fourth with 42.

In all, 23 of the 42 states in which courts can authorize wiretapping
reported at least one such authorization last year.

Under federal law, prosecutors who apply for court permission to install
wiretaps are required to submit reports unless a court order is issued with
the consent of one of the parties whose conversations are to be
intercepted.

Checked-by: jwjohnson@netmagic.net (Joel W. Johnson)