Law Enforcement
GPS Tracking For Law Enforcement
GPS Tracker: Surveillance Made Simple
“Anything that is wasted effort represents wasted time. The best management of our time thus becomes linked inseparably with the best utilization of our efforts.”—T. Engstrom
Since GPS trackers use some of the most sophisticated software and satellite technologies, it is easy to see why law enforcement and government agencies all across the globe utilize the these advanced monitoring solutions. From data loggers that only require the user to “remove and review” to access driving activity, to direct and intuitive web-based and software interfaces that allow driving activity to be viewed in real-time, here is where law enforcement professionals can get the latest information and news on GPS surveillance technology.
Warrants For Cell Phone Tracking
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Police GPS Surveillance Raises Privacy Questions
As the technological revolution has evolved, numerous consumer and progressional grade devices made their way onto the market for public consumption. Many of these products such as cell phones, GPS navigation systems and tracking devices have made life easier for consumers, companies and even law enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, they also brought new questions to life that many people did not ever foresee coming. Questions such as the appropriate use of GPS trackers by police to conduct surveillance operations on possible criminal activity. These questions became such hot topics that they even reached the desk of the Supreme Court.
Recently, the Supreme Court reviewed a case where police used GPS tracking hardware to find out where a criminal suspect was going. The GPS tracker confirmed law enforcement suspicions that the suspect was indeed up to unlawful activities. However, the GPS vehicle tracker placed on the car operated by the suspect was not first approved through the process of obtaining a warrant. Basically, police did not request special permission from a judge to place the GPS tracker on the vehicle, but this was basically due to a gray area in the law that never actually required police to do so. There simply was no protocol in place due to legal concerns that would force police to get a warrant before using GPS trackers. After numerous high courts in different states came to different interpretations and conclusions on warrant-less GPS tracking, the Supreme Court decided that law enforcement agents must first acquire a warrant before placing any GPS monitoring or surveillance tracker on the vehicle of a possible suspect.
GPS Alerts Police
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Panic Button Provides Peace Of Mind
GPS trackers are used for vehicle fleet management, monitoring children, observation of senior citizens, asset protection, teen driving safety, auto-theft security and more. This is because consumer grade GPS systems have become both cost-effective and user-efficient. Although there are numerous ways GPS tracking and navigational technology can improve daily life, it is the lives that are saved by GPS that really puts a smile on the face of all the employees working for GPS Tracker Shop.
Panic Button Can Save Lives
Real-time GPS trackers designed for personal monitoring such as the GPS Tracking Bracelet are engineered with a feature known as the panic button. What this panic button is designed to do is send out a call to law enforcement, a family member or friend if the person wearing the GPS bracelet is in need of help. Sometimes that help can be something as simple as the person being lost, stranded after auto mechanical failure or something much more serious.
Zimmerman Under GPS Surveillance
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GPS Tracker Now Monitoring Controversial Florida Man
The entire nation has been watching closely the situation unfolding in Florida surrounding a man by the name of George Zimmerman. As most people are already aware, Zimmerman has been tossed into the spotlight for his actions that resulted in the death of a 17-year old by the name of Trayvon Martin. The case has a number of elements such as the "Stand Your Ground Law" and racial profiling that make it almost tantalizing. Although the media has sensationalized the case, the death of Martin has created an uproar among many in the African American community, and opponents of the controversial law. Whether or not the outrage from people all over the nation actually pressured Florida prosecutors into filing criminal charges against Zimmerman, the man at the center of the controversy is now facing the possibility of a very long jail sentence for the crime of murder.
What made so many people furious about the Zimmerman case was that the man shot and killed a unarmed teen, and law enforcement did not feel the man was culpable for his actions. The police felt he was acting in self-defense and within the guidelines of the law, therefore no charges were pressed. That is of course until the story made national headlines, and media from all over the nation descended upon the city in Florida. What happened next was the district attorney spent time deliberating an evaluating the evidence in the case, finally coming to the conclusion to formally file charges against Zimmerman.
After turning himself in to the authorities, a huge presiding over the case did not believe that Zimmerman posed a flight risk, allowing him to post bail. The contingency upon receiving bail was that Zimmerman must wear a GPS tracker device that will give law enforcement authorities the ability to oversee his whereabouts at all times in real-time.
FBI GPS Trackers
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How Much Surveillance Is Too Much?
About two years ago, a young college student named Yasir Afifi took his automobile into the shop to have some standard preventative maintenance done. When the auto-specialist returned with a black box in his hands, Afifi asked the mechanic what the device was. Unfortunately, the mechanic was not savvy in this type of gadgetry and simply handed the unknown device to Afifi, explaining that the device was connected to Afifi’s vehicle. After some online research, Afifi discovered that the unknown device was a GPS tracker. However, when the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) knocked on his door and asked for the real-time GPS tracking device back, Afifi realized that big brother was watching him.
The FBI has a very serious job to do, and any potential information about terrorist activities must be treated as a real threat. Although the FBI has not released any statement regarding why they were using GPS vehicle tracker technology to observe the man with an Egyptian decent, GPS tracking of potential “high risk” suspects or criminals is now a common practice by the FBI, as well as police departments.
"Law enforcement applications of GPS trackers are fairly standard surveillance practices because the technology equipment gives the government or police agency the unique ability to observe driving activity in both a real-time and historical format, giving the agency detailed information about possible criminal activity", explained a fleet management specialist for GPS Tracker Shop.
Government Tracker Devices
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Law Enforcement Professional-Grade GPS Systems
Recently, the Supreme Court of the United States of America made a ground-breaking ruling when it comes to the law enforcement use of GPS trackers. What the judges decided was that police had to first obtain a warrant if they wanted to place a GPS tracker on the automobile of a potential criminal suspect. After the ruling, it is estimated the federal agents working for the F.B.I. had to remove nearly 3,000 tracking systems that were placed on the vehicles of potential criminals. This is because a warrant was not obtained before those tracker devices were placed on the automobiles. Although the use of GPS trackers among government and law enforcement agencies has undergone many changes since the Supreme Court decision, the application of professional-grade GPS tracking devices to monitor criminal activity will not stop anytime soon.
GPS Trackers: Why Government Agencies Use Them
At first glance, the thought of government agencies using GPS trackers sounds like a horrible invasion of privacy by Big Brother. However, many civilians do not understand the massive budget cuts that are impacting government agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management, Federal Bureau of Investigation and other federally-funded organizations. When monetary resources are dried up, agencies have a much more difficult time fighting crime and maintaining security. GPS trackers help these law enforcement agencies by giving the good guys the ability to monitor numerous potential arsonists, poachers, drug traffickers and other criminals, even in the face of financial strain. That is why although the Supreme Court decision will force law enforcement to go through new procedural challenges in order to place a GPS vehicle tracker on a potential criminal's automobile, it will not stop police from using GPS tracking systems.