Wheeling to consider second police request for opioid settlement funds

The Wheeling Police Department is requesting $40,000 of opioid settlement funds to acquire technology from an Israeli-based phone-hacking company connected to several global human rights violations.

*Updated Nov. 19, 2024: The Wheeling City Council voted to approve this request for opioid settlement funds. Councilor Connie Cain recused herself due to her employment with Public Defender Services. The vote was six in favor, one abstaining, and zero opposed.*

WHEELING – On Tuesday, Nov. 19, the Wheeling City Council will vote on a request from the Wheeling Police Department for $40,000 of opioid settlement funds to purchase a subscription to an Israeli-based phone-hacking company. The vote comes after the department received over $100,000 of settlement money in May 2024. 

The department’s request seeks to utilize funds awarded to the city of Wheeling by the West Virginia First Foundation, an organization created by an act of the West Virginia Legislature. The organization’s goal is to facilitate the disbursement of funds awarded to the state obtained after successful lawsuits against several pharmaceutical companies for their roles in the state’s opioid epidemic. 

In a memorandum from the city’s police department submitted to council, the department’s investigations unit says it will, if approved, use $40,000 of opioid settlement funds to purchase a subscription, equipment, software and training to Cellebrite, an Israel-based company. 

Cellebrite, referred to as ‘Celebrite’ in the department’s memorandum, has a varied history throughout the globe, including several human rights abuses.

Bangladesh and the Philippines used Cellebrite’s products to commit extra judicial killings connected to anti-crime operations in each country. While the company said they have discontinued selling their products in Bangladesh, the company continues working with the Filipino government. 

Cellebrite has been used to target, arrest, and prosecute pro-democracy protesters and other detainees in the countries of Russia and Belarus, as well as the Chinese special administrative region of Hong Kong. Cellebrite announced they would cease selling their products to Belarus, China, and Russia, but The Intercept alleges the company continues to sell to China. 

In 2021, the New York Times reported that the country of Myanmar had purchased and utilized Cellebrite technology to crackdown on pro-democracy protests against the country’s military junta. Myanmar’s government is also alleged to have used the technology to prosecute journalists reporting on the 2017 Rohingya genocide. 

The Wheeling Police Department says its request to purchase Cellebrite comes as the city grapples with an ongoing opioid use epidemic, including overdose deaths. The department says unlocking phones can allow them to uncover and disrupt the source of illicit drugs. Currently, locked phones are sent to the state police’s digital forensics lab to be unlocked, something the police department says takes too much time. 

If approved, the department could use Cellebrite’s technology for investigation’s not related to disrupting illicit drug sales.

In May 2024, the city council approved a request from the police department to use $113,935.54 of opioid settlement funds to purchase a utility terrain vehicle (UTV), a UTV trailer, covert cameras, and other items. Several members of the public spoke out against the request, saying the funds should be earmarked to victims of the opioid epidemic.

During that May meeting, councilors agreed that future opioid settlement funds would be allocated to organizations working to alleviate the opioid addiction crisis in the city. That May meeting included four councilors who were reelected to the body’s July 2024 to July 2028 term. Councilor Ty Thorngate, one of the reelected councilors, said he hoped to see a task force created to help determine how funds were allocated. 

To our knowledge, no task force has been created to decide how Wheeling’s opioid settlement funds are disbursed. As well, to our knowledge, no formal process exists for organizations to apply for funding from the city. Organizations were able to apply directly to the West Virginia First Foundation in September. That application has since closed. 

In total, the Wheeling City Council has approved almost $700,000 in requests for the use of opioid settlement funds. On the same day that the police department’s May 2024 request was approved, council approved over $431,000 for the city’s fire department. In June 2024, a request by eight area nonprofits to split $150,000 of settlement funds was also approved. 

If this latest police department request is approved, the city would have an estimated $30,000 left to allocate in its first round of disbursed opioid settlement funds. The city is expected to receive further funds from the West Virginia First Foundation. 

City council will decide whether to approve or deny the department’s request at its Tuesday, Nov. 19 meeting at 5:30 p.m.