Law Enforcement and GPS Tracking
Why do police use GPS?
There’s no question that police and other government agencies are some of the biggest users of GPS tracking. It allows agents to avoid many dangerous situations, like closely tailing a dangerous suspect or entering a volatile scene for purposes of getting visual confirmation. It saves uncountable hours in manpower for surveillance, and almost unfailingly offers reliable, clear-cut data as evidence.
Even as the rulings in Wisconsin and New York conflict with one another, government law enforcement agencies are stepping up their purchase of vehicle tracking units and getting grants to buy them. Manufacturers are starting to design vehicle tracking units specifically for law enforcement use. The truth is that GPS tracking devices can save taxpayers money.
“GPS tracking facilitates a new technological perception of the world in which the situation of any object may be followed and exhaustively recorded over, in most cases, a practically unlimited period,” said a judge. “The potential for a similar capture of information of ‘seeing’ by law enforcement would require, at a minimum, millions of additional police officers and cameras on every street lamp.”
The courts are trying to put limits on the use of GPS tracking; They just haven’t been able to agree yet. Federal law has not kept up with advances in the surveillance industry. With modern GPS tracking devices, people can find the location of cars, trucks, recreational vehicles and other assets easily, with exceptional detail and accuracy. It boggles the mind and blurs the line between reasonable surveillance with GPS tracking and invasion of privacy.
It is a difficult issue with strong opinions on both sides.
Tags: cou, court ruling, GPS Tracking, law enforment, legal, Vehicle Tracking
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