GPS Tracking

Warning Victims Via GPS Tracking Devices Makes Sense

The Service is Called Victim Notification Solutions

Source acquired via VV Daily Press, June 1, 2010, San Bernardino, California – Attaching a GPS tracking bracelet to a convicted criminal isn’t a new notion. Attaching a GPS tracking bracelet to a potential perpetrator is another idea altogether. One Californian GPS tracker company is presently trying to convince San Bernardino Country family courts that certain individuals should be monitored using GPS bracelets before these individuals have been convicted of any crime. (more…)

It’s All About Safety Measures

Will it Work as Planned?

New Haven, Connecticut is rolling out a new GPS monitoring system to aid in the tracking of those who have been convicted of violent domestic crimes.  The idea behind this effort is to not only track the offenders, but be able to provide timely alerts should they violate the terms of their sentences.

The victims will also have a small device that delivers a message should an offender violate a pre-set boundary in their area.  Also, the victims will be supplied with cell phones so that an automated system can make a call to them and the police agency simultaneously to notify them of the violation.

Is all of this really necessary or is it overkill? The stats tell the story quite well.  One in four women has experienced domestic violence in their lifetime.  Each year, between 600,000 and 6 million women are the victims of domestic violence.  And finally, the most startling fact of all:  as an average, more than three women and one man are murdered by their intimate partners every day in America.

Technology that has been enabled to assist in this area is a huge boost to the efforts of keeping victims safe.  Everyone knows that police agencies cannot keep watch on victims 24×7 to make sure that they are ok.  In fact, case loads for local authorities are almost unbearable.

GPS is the Perfect Partner

If these systems are implemented as planned, they will work automatically and provide advanced notice to the victim that there might be a problem.  This is different from the normal ankle monitoring that only provides police agencies a notice if there is a problem with the monitoring system or other anomalies.

With these new systems, domestic violence victims can begin get back some semblance of a ‘normal’ life.  At least it might help them to live without always looking over their shoulders.

The most serious of cases are the ones that will be targeted by this program.  The best advantages of this program are that:

It is victim oriented.  This differs from existing programs that are targeted exclusively at offenders.

Provides extra time for implementing a plan once an alert is sent out.  The quick alerts allow victims to take action based on pre-determined steps to help insure their safety.

It is an extra tool that provides an additional layer of protection in the appropriate cases.  The goal is to save lives.

GPS Tracking devices have made many important marks on society.  This is without doubt one of the most important.

GPS tracking technology is a welcome benefit for most car rental companies. Not only does it give company managers the ability to track, in real time, each car in their large fleets (and keep in mind some of these vehicles are moving clear across the country!) But GPS tracking also offers security that these assets can be traced and recovered if they get stolen.

Those in the illegal business of car thievery have been forced to operate with more caution and innovation since GPS tracking devices have found their way into the lives and cars of everyday people.

A rather disturbing trend has been making the rounds of YouTube and social networking sites. Thieves have been taking the same GPS tracking technology and using it to their own advantage. They rent a car, secretly install a small real-time GPS tracking device that costs as little as $300, have a duplicate key made, return the car, then monitor it until it is at a time and place convenient to be hijacked.

Video Shows Gangsters Stealing From Car

Sometimes the belongings inside a car are stolen rather than the car itself. This allows the thieves to return again and again to the same source, for goods that can be sold on the street. A video on YouTube shows how easy this deception can be. Two men approach a car in a hotel parking lot, pop open the trunk and make off with a laptop in a matter of seconds.

There are some who believe this particular video was faked and that the story is an urban myth. But certainly the crime itself is probable and of serious concern to any traveler or owner of a car rental agency. Imagine the convenience GPS tracking would afford a would-be thief. He could follow his target, in real time, on a computer, without being detected. He could wait for days if necessary, until the vehicle is parked in a prime place, where the thief would not draw attention to himself; for instance, an airport, train station, a stadium or a water park. (more…)

Real-Time Tracking System

Real-time tracking system information aided authorities in the recovery of a stolen backhoe in the Blandford-Blenheim region. The real-time tracking system data was used by local authorities to accurately determine the backhoe’s location and eventual to the arrest of an unidentified man for possession of stolen equipment over $5000.

Bruce Weeger of Ebersole Excavating went online to view his real-time tracking system to check and verify his equipment was in the appropriate location. Weeger installed real-time tracking systems, a form of GPS tracking system technology, as additional security for his expensive construction equipment. When the GPS tracking system showed that the backhoe was missing from Weeger’s property he quickly called authorities and provided him the real-time tracking system data. The real-time tracking system data was then used by authorities to determine the location of the backhoe and led them to the suspected thief’s home. GPS tracking systems have been widely used by companies to monitor vehicles and other assets.

Staff Sergeant Shelton, who was involved in the case, was surprised how easily it was for the authorities to locate the vehicle and suspect thanks to the GPS tracking data provided by the real-time tracking system. The real-time tracking system provided exact longitude and latitude coordinates. When asked about the crime, Shelton expressed how much easier police work would be if all stolen items were equipped with GPS tracking systems.

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. – A planned evening of thievery turned comical in New York, when three teenagers, in essence, called in their own crime. It’s the high-tech version of leaving your wallet at the scene of the crime. The criminals led police right to them.

At about 3 a.m. Dec. 29, three young men were trying to break into cars and strip them of parts at Sierra Auto Body Parts on Midland Avenue in Middletown, police reported. Two teenagers were in a car while the third waited nearby as the getaway driver.

One of the suspects unknowingly bumped his cell phone’s emergency button and it dialed 911, said Middletown Sgt. Jay Tobin. The 911 dispatcher was puzzled at first, but stuck on the phone long enough to overhear the criminal suspects’ plot and got it on record.

All cell phones have emergency GPS tracking capability, ordered by the government in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. So the dispatcher tracked the phone by its GPS signal to the scene of the crime and sent a patrolman that was in the area to the location.

At one point on the police tape, one of the suspects can be heard saying to the getaway driver, “You better come. We’re getting the tires … just shut the car off. They’re going to think we’re stealing it.”

After which the dispatcher relayed to the patrolman: “It sounds like they’re ripping a car off … it dialed in their pocket by accident. They’re taking the tires off a car.”

Police arrived while the crime was still in progress and, while they tried to run, Fabian Corley, Andre Pryce and Xavier Jenkins were arrested. Each of the three teens faces several misdemeanor charges.

The manager of the auto parts business, John Sierra Jr., spoke to a television crew and admitted that his yard, full of cars, might have been a lure to the young men. Because of the bad economy, many customers were unable to pay the costs of repair, so he had been keeping customer’s cars longer.

CARLSTADT, N.J. – An arrest in Carlstadt, a borough of New Jersey, stands as proof that Global Positioning System (GPS tracking) technology is increasingly becoming smaller and more sophisticated.

Police arrested two men for allegedly stealing bottles of Creed-brand designer perfume and cologne from a Carlstadt, N.J. shipping company they worked for. Tiny GPS tracking devices were attached to random bottles of luxury fragrances, after representatives of both Gale Network Company and retailer Neiman Marcus fretted over losses in their inventory. The fragrances had been disappearing over the course of a year.

On May 27, a GPS tracking report noted that one of the marked bottles had wavered from its regular shipping route. The real-time GPS tracking device on the bottle led authorities to the Jersey City home of Carlos Mayta, 30.

Police found a total of 17 bottles of Creed in Mayta’s possession. Mayta then fingered an alleged accomplice, Arturo Vasquez, 30, of Union City, who reportedly admitted to stealing 30 bottles of Creed. The estimated value of the perfume and cologne recovered is $11,000.

Each man was charged with theft of movable property. Mayta faces an additional charge of receiving stolen property.

Not only do the suspects face jail time, they are being investigated by U.S. Immigration Services. Authorities said the case is still open and other arrests might be pending.

The House of Creed is a sixth-generation, privately-held French company founded in 1760. Its products, for men and women, are favored by the Hollywood elite, and they pay handsomely for them. Some Creed fragrances retail for as much as $130 an ounce.

MAPLE RIDGE, B.C., Canada – Police investigating the report of a stolen vehicle found something else entirely when a GPS tracking device pointed them to a home in Maple Ridge, B.C.

In May, the owner of a white Dodge pickup phoned the Ridge Meadows Royal Canadian Mounted Police, to report that his vehicle had been stolen. The missing vehicle was equipped with a portable, real-time vehicle tracking device. The owner logged on to his computer to get GPS tracking information and he got the exact location of the GPS tracking receiver – even the address.

Police, prepared for a rather routine recovery and arrest, went to the residential address, but found no white Dodge pickup. They did witness a vehicle carrying two men pulling in the driveway. The passenger ran quickly into the house, with the driver not far behind.

When police gained access to the home, the smell of marijuana was detected. They found pot, and they uncovered what they believed to be a crystal methamphetamine lab. In addition, several vehicles and one boat on the property were seized and suspected stolen.

The original white Dodge pickup that police went to the suspect house to find, was located several hours later. It was parked on a busy city street several blocks away.

Investigators later linked the drug suspects to the Dodge pickup theft as well.

The truck’s GPS tracking system was not inaccurate. It appeared that the suspects discovered the vehicle tracking device and removed it so the truck would not be traced. Unfortunately for the suspects, someone brought the GPS tracking device into the house to store it, and forgot to turn it off.

Three men and a woman who lived in the house were arrested.

When a flat-screen television was stolen from a luxury log cabin in the Great Smokey Mountains, a Global Positioning System (GPS tracking) device attached to it, led police to its recovery.

Sheriff’s deputies in Sevier County, TN were called June 1 to the Sterling Springs Mountain Resort and Spa in Sevierville. Managers reported the burglary of a rental log cabin. One of several items stolen was a flat-screen TV. The television “told” police where it was taken.

The television had real-time GPS tracking unit installed. Using radio signals from satellites, the GPS tracking unit determined its location and sent out regular transmissions. Police traced it to a home in the neighboring town of Seymour, about 10 miles away.

Every day, stalkers, petty criminals and drug dealers are locked behind bars, nabbed with the help of one of the fastest-growing surveillance technologies in law enforcement: the GPS tracking device.

One such criminal, Bernardo Garcia, was recently convicted of manufacturing methamphetamine in northwest Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation mounted a passive vehicle tracking device on his car and tracked him to his manufacturing site. A spokesman for the police unit said that investigators use GPS tracking units on about 75 suspect vehicles a year. An appeals judge ruled that drug agents had good reason to suspect Garcia of drug dealing and were justified in using the GPS tracking unit to bust him.

GPS tracking systems use signals from satellites to determine exact location of a receiver. The device used to nab Garcia was a passive vehicle tracking device. It had to be removed from the vehicle and the GPS tracking data downloaded onto a personal computer. Passive GPS tracking devices are helpful to police because they provide a detailed history of a vehicle’s movements that is powerful evidence, proven effective over and over again, in courts of law.

In general, police can freely place vehicle tracking units on suspects’ cars when the vehicles are parked on public streets, in parking lots, or in view of the public on a private driveway. Courts are still referring to a 1983 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said people should have no expectation of privacy in public places.

GPS tracking is widely used by police, and quite affordable, considering It saves untold hours in manpower. One investigator described GPS tracking technology simply as “a way to work smarter.”

Cary, Illinois, August 15, 2008.  LandAirSea Systems, Inc., recently divulged that the placement of its GPS Tracking Key in the vehicle of an armed robbery suspect ultimately led to his arrest and conviction.

On the evening of February 26, 2008, at approximately 7:30 p.m., an incident occurred at a Valero gas station at Bridge and Market Streets in Colusa.  A man, reported to have been wearing a ski mask and carrying a sawed-off firearm , entered the convenience store portion of the gas station and began threatening the station’s owner.  Just prior to that time, the Tracking Key had detected the arrival of the suspect’s vehicle two blocks away from the crime scene, and recorded the departure of the vehicle shortly thereafter.  At a subsequent stop also recorded by the Tracking Key, DNA evidence was collected;  additionally, a deputy search warrant in the city of Colusa and the suspect’s home, revealed a ski mask, gloves and an “imitation firearm”, providing the Colusa County Sheriff’s Department with enough incriminating evidence to make an arrest.  The arrest was made on March 6, 2008.

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