New York City's police have made extensive use of covert devices to track cell phones without obtaining warrants since 2008, a civil liberties group said on Thursday, revealing how frequently law enforcement in the largest U.S. city has employed the technology. The New York Civil Liberties Union released files that showed the New York Police Department used "cell site simulators" to track nearby cell phones more than a 1,000 times over the past eight years. The American Civil Liberties Union has identified 60 local, state and federal agencies that have adopted the devices in recent years, but the group has said there are likely far more.

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