Cliff Newly released documents definitively show that local law enforcement in Washington, DC possessed a cellular surveillance system—commonly known as a "stingray"—since 2003. However, these stingrays literally sat unused in a police vault for six years until officers were trained on the devices in early 2009. "It's life imitating The Wire," Chris Soghoian, a staff technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union, told Ars.