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Innovative, ground-breaking technological devices are on a continual rise in recent years. Perhaps the most famous device to hit the electronic markets is the Apple iPad. Unfortunately, the rise of technology has given thieves and burglars a greater selection of items from which to steal. Has your Blackberry, iPhone, iPad, Android, or any other electronic device been stolen? Have you recovered it?

A GPS tracking device is a handy means of recovering kidnapped people and animals or stolen possessions. GPS (global positioning system) has twenty-four satellites located in six orbital spheres above the earth. These satellites provide GPS coverage for virtually any place on earth. The satellites send a signal to a GPS-enabled device on earth, giving the real time location of an asset on the move. A GPS tracking device must be attached to the stolen goods in order to track it. It is also possible to use a GPS tracking device in historical time (not just real time). With the assistance of GPS tracking software, one can review a GPS recording at a later time and locate the whereabouts of a person or item.

Recently, an Apple employee returned to his San Jose home to discover that his two iPads had been stolen. He later found out he arrived about an hour after the theft occurred. Realizing that he could use the GPS tracking device on his iPhone to recover his iPads, he (along with the assistance of a police officer) tracked the movement of the iPads through the city and then turn onto Cape George Place. The GPS tracker led the Apple employee and police to a 1998 Dodge Neon. Police surrounded the vehicle and located the two iPads along with numerous other electronic devices. Estimated totals for all the stolen equipment were around $20,000. Police arrested Francisco Chavez and Arturo Urrutia (both of San Jose) and charged them with burglary. Arraignment is expected in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

The police did not know what the escape vehicle looked like. They followed an icon (representing the escape car) on an iPhone screen. The signal provided from one of the twenty-four satellites located above the earth to the GPS tracking device on the iPhone led the Apple employee and police to the stolen iPads. With technology continually improving and increasing in value, a GPS tracking device is very useful.