Surveillance Helps DEA
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- Category: Law Enforcement
GPS Trackers Bring Clarity In Drug War
Throughout the country Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) personnel are fighting what can sometimes appear and feel like a never-ending war against those trafficking and distributing illegal drugs inside the United States. Whether it be drug cartels trying to smuggle narcotics across the border or domestic offenders cultivating marijuana in the Pacific Northwest, DEA agents are typically understaffed and overworked trying to win the fight of the war on drugs. Although conducting tens of thousands of investigations every year on possible suspects can be daunting chore, GPS trackers are helping DEA agents gather evidence and build cases against some of the biggest drug smugglers and growers in the nation.
When most people think of GPS tracking systems they typically first think about the real-time GPS tracking devices used for fleet management by corporations with fleets of vehicles. Although this form of real-time monitoring and management is highly successful and productive for companies and the corporate world, due to the limitations of active GPS, Drug Enforcement Agency investigators instead call upon GPS loggers such as the GPS Tracking Key to assist in surveillance efforts.
GPS Data Loggers: Passive Technology A Real Solution
Since the DEA conducts many investigations in very remote regions of the United States where cellular service, 3G and Internet are not readily available, it essential that they have GPS systems that do not depend on any of those forms of technology. Not to mention, many real-time GPS trackers such as the SilverCloud GPS tracker can only update as fast as every three (3) seconds, whereas the government agency prefers to utilize GPS devices that can update and record data every second. This is what makes GPS data loggers the primary style of GPS tracker utilized by law enforcement agencies conducting investigative work in remote locations.
Imagine for a moment a DEA has received numerous leads that a particular individual residing in Western Oregon is growing large amounts of marijuana in a national forest. After a quick background check, it becomes known that the individual in question has a prior history of drug convictions, setting up additional red flags. Since the individual lives and travels through heavily wooded areas, a real-time GPS tracker is not an option to record driving activity. Therefore, the DEA investigator contacts a local judge to acquire a warrant for using a GPS tracking device, and equips a data logger system upon the vehicle used by the suspect. The GPS data logger then captures a wealth of relevant information about where the suspect is traveling, how long he/she stays at each location and more.
After removing the GPS tracker from the target vehicle and downloading the data, the DEA investigator discovers the suspect made frequent stops to a particular location in the national forest. Upon researching and visiting the location in question, the DEA discovers a large crop of marijuana growing near a natural river bed. The DEA then puts all of the evidence together, which leads to the arrest of a big-time drug cultivation ring all thanks in large part to the help of a tiny GPS data logger.
GPS tracking is only one of the many security products and surveillance tools used by the DEA and other government agencies fighting against drug smugglers, dealers and cultivators. With the assistance of technology, the DEA is winning a number of key victories against those committing federal offenses.