Calling it a growing nationwide concern in the age of GPS, the American Civil Liberties Union wants law enforcement agencies across the country to explain when and how they obtain personal cellphone data from cell providers.

A spokesman for the Honolulu Police Department, one of six Hawaii agencies being queried by ACLU of Hawaii, said law enforcement agencies here must abide by strict access laws that require a court order before the cellphone data of a suspect can be obtained.

The efforts, made through the state’s open records law, are part of a national ACLU effort to "strip away the secrecy that has surrounded law enforcement use of cellphone tracking capabilities," ACLU of Hawaii said in a news release.

The request appears to focus on real-time GPS tracking capability, but seeks information on historical cellphone data as well.

"Essentially, we’re looking for how they gather cellphone information, as well as how they’re using it," said Laurie Temple, an ACLU of Hawaii staff attorney.

Maj. Richard Robinson, commander of HPD’s Criminal Investigations Division, said Wednesday that Hono­lulu police can obtain cellphone data without a court order only in life-and-death emergencies.

"Hawaii has one of the most protective laws in the nation when it comes to personal privacy, especially cellphone privacy," Robinson said, noting that HPD had not yet received or seen the ACLU request.

"To get any personal information requires a court order, which is based on probable cause," Robinson said, noting it is no different from obtaining phone records from a wired phone line. "We can’t enter your house without a court order; we can’t enter your phone without a court order."

HPD does not obtain court orders to "actively track" the cellphones of criminal suspects, but only to obtain call records and other historical documents from cellphone providers, he said.

The department does not keep statistics on how often it seeks such data but "it requires a court order, it requires going before a judge, so it’s not something that’s done every day."

On occasion HPD will seek out cellphone data without a court order, but only in emergencies, Robinson said.

"When we use them, it’s almost always in missing persons cases and in those cases that technology has helped us save lives because it helps us to locate people who are in a crisis situation."

In those circumstances, real-time tracking may be done.

"We’re not going to use any of this technology to try to track the average criminal," he said. "This is a life-saving technology used to save lives."

Robinson said he does not believe the law needs to be changed to make it easier for law enforcement to obtain cellphone data.

"We always operate within the parameters of the law, which is set by the Legislature, which balances law enforcement needs against the needs of the public and their privacy, which is always a delicate balance for anyone to strike," he said. "I think that the way the law is written now, we’re able to accomplish our needs in providing protection to the public while also providing protection to the citizens of Hawaii."

The ACLU of Hawaii sent letters to all four county police departments, the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Debra Ward, DLNR spokeswoman, said the agency’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement has no policies regarding accessing or using cellphone data. "Not at this time," she said of DOCARE, which has roughly 100 law enforcement officers. "We don’t really have the capability to utilize that kind of technology."

Other state and county agencies would not comment because they had not seen the ACLU request, or did not return calls Wednesday afternoon.

Nationally, Raymond Hayducka, first vice president of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police and chief of the South Brunswick Police Department, said the use of cellphone tracking technology had become routine in many investigations.

He said his department would comply with the open-records request from the ACLU.

He said examples of noncriminal cases in which police have used cellphone tracking include locating people lost in the woods and finding people who made 911 calls but hung up.

In New Jersey, he said, the use of cellphone location data in higher-level criminal cases is limited, and investigators first have to obtain communication data warrants from a judge.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.