GPS Tracking

Supreme Court Mandates Warranted GPS Tracking

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that law enforcement officials violated the Constitutional rights of suspected cocaine dealer, Antoine Jones, when they attached a GPS tracking device on his Jeep without a search warrant. The data obtained from the GPS tracker was used to convict Jones of possession of narcotics with the intent to distribute, which was later overturned in a federal appeals court.

District of Columbia police and FBI agents watched Jones, a nightclub owner, for months with an array of surveillance techniques, including tapping his cellphone under a warrant from a federal judge. Police had obtained a warrant for the District of Columbia, however, it expired before the GPS tracking device was installed in Maryland.

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The United States vs. Antoine Jones

On November 8, 2011, the Supreme Court listened and responded to oral arguments from both sides in a landmark case, which would have determined whether police and law enforcement agencies would be able to monitor suspected criminals with covert GPS tracking devices without having to obtain a warrant.

The case involved a suspected cocaine trafficker in the Washington, D.C. area, whose movements were monitored 24/7 over a 28 day period without a warrant by the FBI and local police investigators. Some of the information obtained from the GPS tracker was used to convict Antoine Jones of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, which was later overturned by a lower circuit appeals court.

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New GPS System Tracks Whereabouts of Pedophiles

Queensland’s (Australia) most notorious pedophiles have been caught lying about their whereabouts and meeting other child-sex offenders after being fitted with new GPS trackers in December of 2011.

The new GPS system, costing $13.7 million, triggered 287 alarms last month, 53 of which were serious enough to follow-up on. This lead to several breaches, which authorities acknowledge wouldn’t have been detected so quickly, if at all without the help of the new GPS tracking system.

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GPS Device Tracks Down ‘Sin Bad’

The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Sherburne County investigators did not violate the Constitution when they attached a GPS tracker to a burglary suspect’s work vehicle and used it to track him to a burglary scene.

Deputies used the GPS tracking device to track the suspect, Sin Santo Bad, to a residential house as he was cleaning out a safe.

Sin Santo Bad was convicted of first-degree burglary and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Bad appealed the conviction, contending that placing the GPS tracker on a truck he used at work constituted an illegal search, and in direct violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. Bad’s attorneys requested that the evidence investigators obtained after his arrest should be suppressed.

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Police Employ New Tactics to Combat Rampant Bike Thefts

Bike theft is a serious problem in Cambridge (UK). In 2010, the city was named the UK’s bike theft capital according to a report by the Cambridgeshire County Council. In 2007, it was reported that thieves stole  2,240 bikes in the city, increasing to 2,326 the following year, 2,597 in 2009 and 2,870 in 2010.

As a result of this growing issue, local law enforcement officials devised a series of tactics last year aimed at combatting this rampant problem. City police officers employed new crime-busting tactics including a new city centre police team, targeting criminals who sell them and trap bikes fitted with GPS tracking systems to deter and catch the culprits.

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Charges Dropped for Turtle Lake Driver

A 60-year-old driver for a handicapped transportation service in Turtle Lake, WI, was accused of sexually assaulting a child in his care. However, this past week he had the criminal charges against him dropped after the 11-year-old girl admitted she made up a story that he molested her sexually.

According to a phone interview from District Attorney Dan Steffen, Paul L. Burritt was not just “not guilty” of the accusations made against him, he was clearly “innocent” of all charges. He went on to state that this was “a prosecutor’s worst nightmare.” All charges against Burritt were dismissed on a prosecutor’s motion and Steffen is working to have them expunged from the criminal computer records.

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Tracking Police Activity with GPS A Common Practice

Macungie (PA) Mayor Rick Hoffman wants to join other municipalities in using GPS technology to monitor police cruisers. He got the idea after speaking with officials in other communities. Pen Argyl, which is about the same size as Macungie, has been using the program about six months.

State police and departments in surrounding cities such as Allentown and Bethlehem (PA), as well as some smaller suburban communities have been using the technology for years as a safety measure for officers and a way to speed up response times to emergencies and crimes in progress.

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Stolen Taxicab Tracked in Denver

A man was arrested in Denver, CO this past Wednesday after law enforcement officials said he stole a taxi, robbed a convenience store and then led police officers on a chase that ended when he crashed the cab into a tree in the Civic Center Park.

According to a local police report, the suspect stole an orange Union Taxi mini-van and then drove it to a Diamond Shamrock at around 1 a.m.

After robbing the convenience store, the suspect took off again in the stolen cab. The taxi was equipped with a GPS tracking device, which allowed police to track the precise location of the vehicle. The suspect led officers on a late-night chase, which ended with the cab going off the street and onto a sidewalk, where he then smashed in to a tree near downtown Denver.

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St. Louis Worker’s Time Sheets Questioned

Fred Robinson seemed to be the ideal employee. Every weekday that he worked in 2010 except one, the St. Louis City Treasurer’s Office employee started work at precisely 7:30 a.m., according to his time sheets. Robinson was hired by the Treasurer’s Office to drive around the city in order to look for broken parking meters and to fine illegally parked vehicles that hadn’t been ticketed.

However, FBI special agent, Monique Comeau, testified earlier this month that this wasn’t necessarily the case based on her investigation into Robinson’s actual work day. She usually found him leaving the house at roughly 9 a.m., spending a about an hour at a local diner, then driving between his second job as the head of a charter school and his third job, where Robinson was the process of establishing his own day care.

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Tracking Burglars Through GPS

The City of Santa Fe, NM introduced a new system designed to track convicted burglars by utilizing GPS devices rather than putting them in jail. The Santa Fe Police began tracking the first offender last week. This new program will start with just five GPS tracking devices in order to gauge its effectiveness and ability to collect data.

According to a report from ABC News, Santa Fe Police Capt. Aric Wheeler, said the idea for the program originated as an alternative to repetitive incarceration, which can get pretty expensive for taxpayers. They also found that jail time did very little to deter these repeat offenders from committing more burglaries.

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