The increased use of wiretaps.
According to the recent Report of the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, applications for orders authorizing or approving the interception of wire, oral or electronic communications (state and federal wiretaps) in 2009 increased by 26 percent when compared to the number of applications in 2008. Drug crimes were the primary type of criminal offenses being investigated with over 85% of the more than 2000 state and federal applications targeting drug crimes. Of the top five federal districts with the greatest number of intercept orders two were from Texas. The Southern District of Texas ranked third highest in the nation and the Northern District of Texas ranked fourth.