JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville area has one of the highest number of approved wiretaps on criminal suspects.
It's a covert crime-fighting tool, tapping into Jacksonville's drug world. Prosecutors are in on phone conversations to bust gangs, seize drugs and get guns off the street.
Action News Jax found records with the federal court system showing that the Fourth Judicial Circuit in Jacksonville had one of the highest number of wiretap orders in Florida in 2014, with 31 in total.
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Assistant State Attorney Michael Kennedy said that reflects the number of "phone lines and extensions placed under surveillance and not the number of cases."
"There was basically one big operation, and it was a very big operation, many people," Kennedy said.
In 2013,the local district had 62 wiretap orders, the most in the state for that year.
Kennedy said those wiretaps were part of four operations. When asked for details about those cases, Kennedy said he couldn't comment because they're all ongoing.
In order to get a judge to sign off on a wiretap, prosecutors said they must prove probable cause and show that a long-term investigation is already underway.
"I couldn't just get a wiretap on your phone today. You know it can't happen that way. That is not how it works," Kennedy said.
The State Attorney's Office told Action News Jax that a major drug bust in 2005 known as operation "Picket Fence" helped transform the Picketville community, taking more than 30 criminals off the street.
"There's a drug problem all over this town," said Robert Ledwick, who has lived in Picketville for more than 50 years.
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Picketville is an area that is plagued by drug deals and gun crime. Ledwick said things have gotten better over the last decade.
"Picketville has come a long way," Ledwick said. "We've gotten a few drug houses knocked out of here. Some of the people have gotten time in prison, which is great."
Investigators say gang members used semitrucks full of cocaine, pot and pills to make drug deals, and many were also connected to a number of deadly shootings.
"That's a serious threat to public safety. People get caught in crossfire," said Assistant State Attorney Rich Mantei, who worked on the case.
Investigators used wiretaps and spent about six months listening in on conversations. Manti said it helped get the convictions that authorities needed as the defendants heard their own words used against them.
"They would talk openly about 'I need X number of drugs, can you bring it over here,'" Mantei said. "It usually takes playing one or two of those phone calls when they figure out what the real deal is."
The State Attorney's Office said a wiretap is issued for 30 days. Attorneys must apply for an extension to keep it going for a longer period of time.