GPS Tracking

Are Laws Keeping Pace With Science?

Under what circumstances can a police officer slap a global positioning system (GPS) Tracking device on your car to gather evidence against you in a legal matter?

To what lengths can an authority figure go, to hide a high-tech vehicle tracking device on your personal property?

If you’re looking to the courts for a legal opinion about GPS tracking, keep looking. Two states recently addressed the issue in court, but ended up with very different, if not opposite, results.

Courts Conflict on Legality

Both considered government placement of GPS tracking devices, specifically, in what cases the action would be unjustified and an intrusion. At the heart of the matter is whether vehicle tracking units can be installed on private vehicles without a warrant. A warrant is a court-approved search in which officers specify the reasons behind the surveillance or search. It details the place to be searched and the person, things or information that is sought. (more…)

If satellite technology had been in existence 75 years ago, notorious bank robbers like Bonnie and Clyde might have gotten a more serious run for their money!

Originally developed by the United States Department of Defense for such military applications as navigation, target tracking, and searches and rescues,  GPS tracking systems have been heralded as the new method with which to fight crime and ensure public safety.  They are increasingly finding their way into America’s courtrooms as an effective means of producing certain evidence that was not available even ten years ago.

Global positioning systems (GPS) are able to identify a suspect’s physical location using the numerous satellites that orbit the earth.  Offenders wearing GPS tracking devices enable law enforcement officials to track the whereabouts and movements of these offenders almost second by second.

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