Just about everyone has a cell phone and a lot of us have two - one work phone, one personal phone.

With GPS and location technology so readily available the ACLU wants to know when, why, and how local law enforcement agencies are using the information to track Americans.

Today's smartphones can do just about everything including pinpointing your location to within a few hundred yards.

It is modern technology that can be extremely valuable to police.

Detective Ed Troyer said, "When people get lost or injured or go missing we can use this technology and these devices  to locate people so it does a lot of good for people who want to be found or need to be found."

The ACLU wants to make sure cops aren't abusing the technology so it sent freedom of information requests to 379 police agencies including Bellevue, Tacoma, Yakima and Spokane seeking any and all information on police initiated cell phone tracking.

Doug Honig who is with the A.C.L.U said, "Our concern is that law enforcement agencies may be getting this information without a warrant and may be just doing fishing expeditions to find out information about people's location."

While police have used cell phone technology for several years now to track suspects and victims, police say getting the information is not as easy as it might seem as cell phone companies seek to protect themselves and privacy of their customers.

Detective Troyer said, "Phone companies won't just give us this information unless we have a police case number, exigent circumstances, a subpoena or a search warrant.  They don't just hand this information to us when we call them up. They give it to us when there’s paperwork and when it's needed for a criminal case.”

According to the ACLU, this started after police in Michigan sought information about every cell phone near the site of a planned labor protest.

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