By Greg Bartlett
Police have long employed GPS trackers to monitor to movements of those suspected of involvement in criminal activity. Certainly the technology is effective. GPS trackers are becoming far more accurate and efficient with each development generation. However, privacy advocates have brought up legitimate concerns about how or when officers can use these devices. The Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits arbitrary government search and seizure without a warrant. The question for police, lawmakers, and judges is therefore simple: does the unwarranted placement of a GPS tracker on someone’s property constitute an illegal invasion of privacy?
GPS & Criminals
The answer, as is often the case in complex issues, is yes and no. Yes, it would be illegal for officers to place a GPS tracker on your vehicle in an environment where you would have some reasonable expectation of privacy. That means no sneaking into your garage to plant one on your back bumper. But no, it would not be illegal for police to place a GPS tracker on your car while it was parked in some public place. However, in the act of placing the device must not involve intruding into legally “private” areas of your car, like the trunk or the glove compartment.
These principles were established over twenty years ago in cases such as United States v. Knotts and United States v. Karo, where suspects were tracked with radio “beepers” planted on items they planned to use in the production and distribution of drugs. In each case, the defendants argued that the tracking devices violated their privacy and could not be used as evidence against them. However, the Supreme Court ruled that as long as police used police trackers to supplement their conventional tracking activities, such as following a car along a public highway, the evidence obtained by the tracking data would be valid and admissible in court.
States are still debating the finer issues within lower courts, so activities will vary in legality across the country. In State v. Jackson, for instance, the Supreme Court of Washington ruled that GPS trackers could violate the privacy clauses within that state’s own constitution. Likewise, a Maryland court believed that GPS trackers could conflict with the Fourth Amendment, but the federal justice in charge of that case stopped short of reversing the sentence of a suspect who had been tailed with the aid of a GPS tracker on his back bumper.
Privacy questions still remain, but GPS trackers will continue to play a role in law enforcement, letting police tail offenders at a safe distance.
