Vehicle Infotainment / Telematics (BERLA)

Art. 18.02(a)(10) — infotainment, navigation & event-data-recorder extraction

Part of the Warrant Path template library. Templates last updated 2026-09-20 — what that date does and doesn’t mean.

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What this covers

A companion warrant to the general Vehicle Search template — it authorizes extraction of a vehicle's own stored digital data (paired-device history, navigation logs, event-data-recorder/crash data, and similar) rather than a physical search of the vehicle, and is built around the kind of extraction tools such as Berla's iVe perform.

Property / data categories

Live and deleted user-attribution data: accounts, emails, passwords, PINs, payment methods, usernames, voice profiles/biometrics
Live and deleted historical navigation data: tracks, routes, waypoints, GPS fixes, favorites, trip logs, lat/long/altitude with dates/times
Live and deleted contact lists, call logs, SMS/MMS, emails, chats, video-conference data, and installed application content
Data stored on removable media (SIM cards, SD/MicroSD cards) and associated Bluetooth/Wi-Fi devices
'Recording device' data under Texas Transportation Code § 547.615: speed/direction, vehicle location, steering and brake performance (including pre-crash braking), safety-belt status, and crash-event transmissions

Controlling authority

Art. 18.01 — General search-warrant requirements — sworn affidavit, particularity.
Art. 18.02(a)(10) — Evidence of an offense — general evidentiary warrant basis, not a more specific enumerated category or Chapter 18B provider warrant.
Tex. Transp. Code § 547.615 — Defines the crash/event data a vehicle's recording device may capture and the conditions for accessing it.
Art. 18.07(a) — 3-day execution deadline.
Art. 18.10 — Return and inventory requirement.
SWGDE Best Practices for Computer Forensic Acquisitions — Standard for the write-blocking, imaging, and hashing methodology in the Forensic Examination Protocol section — the extraction process Berla iVe and similar tools perform.

Common defects to check for before filing

Using this template when the case only needs a physical search of the vehicle (weapons, drugs, contraband) — use the general Vehicle Search template instead
Treating the 3-day return deadline (Art. 18.07(a)/18.10) as also covering completion of the infotainment-system extraction and analysis — the Forensic Examination Protocol section addresses this; confirm the framing with your prosecutor
Vehicle description mismatch — year/make/model/color/plate/VIN must exactly match across affidavit, warrant, and vehicle
Requesting the full category list when the facts only support a narrower extraction (e.g., navigation/location data only) — trim to what the case needs
Overlooking that Texas Transportation Code § 547.615 has its own access conditions for event-data-recorder data, independent of the general search-warrant standard — confirm with your DA that the warrant's language satisfies both
Assuming this warrant reaches manufacturer/telematics-provider-held records (live tracking, cloud-synced data, camera footage uploaded off the vehicle) — it only reaches data physically on the vehicle's own hardware; those need separate process directed at the manufacturer/provider
Not naming the specific module(s) targeted, or the relevant event window, when the case facts support narrowing either — both are optional fields but strengthen particularity when filled in

This is a companion to, not a replacement for, the general Vehicle Search template — a case built entirely on physical evidence doesn't need this one at all, and a case needing both digital and physical evidence needs both warrants. Also confirm your forensic extraction tool's (e.g., Berla iVe) current supported-vehicle list before relying on a saved copy from a prior case.

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