OTTAWA – The RCMP is among a number of police forces refusing to pay new fees levied by Rogers Communications for helping to track suspects through their mobile devices.
According to a Canadian Press report Monday, the dispute began late last May, when Rogers wrote to RCMP divisions and other police services across Canada to say that it would impose new fees to law enforcement on August 1. The fees would be applied to costs in executing warrants for tracking customers’ movements through cellphone data, and for the production of affidavits certifying records in cases where testimony is required to explain the records in court.
Police maintain that Rogers is legally obligated to provide such court-ordered services and to cover the cost as part of its duty to society, according to the report.
Rogers spokesman Kevin Spafford is quoted in the report saying that the company dropped the demand for fees related to affidavits prior to the August 1st changes, however does recover costs for location tracking of mobile devices where possible.
“For most court-ordered requests for information, we assume all costs associated with providing a response,” he said in the report. “In some cases we charge a minimal fee to recover our costs based on the work required to comply with requests.”
