You don’t need to be rooted for basic searching. Back when I ran android I found an app that would alert when you connect to a tower not in the database. I think it was called AIMSICD but it’s been a while.

I think you would need to deploy more advanced techniques to be sure though.

There've been reports that the Minneapolis Police Department has used Stingrays. Apparently there are some phones that can detect it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker#Counter...

I use an app called cellular z. Never caught a stingray in the wild, but it's easy to see if a tower "moves" with it.

There's already apps for it. You need root if you want to actually be able to avoid the suspicious towers.