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With the United States Supreme Court ready to rule on the legal limits of warrantless GPS tracking, many stories are popping up all over the internet, voicing different sides of the argument. GPS technology is very advanced, and it can no doubt aid police in bringing criminals to justice. The real question lies with who is best qualified to determine whether or not GPS tracking is warranted.

On one side of the fence, the argument is that GPS tracking is not so different from routine surveillance. Currently, it is perfectly legal for police to follow subjects on foot or in a vehicle in order to gain evidence. The Supreme Court actually set a precedence for this argument, in 1983.

The question, back then, was regarding a similar tracking technology, using radio frequency. Police would plant radio-based tracking devices on suspect’s property, to use to gather evidence against them.

At that time, the court decided, “Nothing in the Fourth Amendment prohibited the police from augmenting their sensory faculties with such enhancement as science and technology afforded them in this case.”

Others have argued, with success in the Court of Appeals, that GPS tracking crosses the boundary of citizen’s reasonable right to privacy, as dictated by the Fourth Amendment.

When criminal or suspect activity is committed in public, there is no reasonable right to privacy, which is why police don’t need a warrant to use their eyes to track suspects in public. Law enforcement does, however, need a warrant when they wish to continue a search, passed what their eyes can see. Entering a residence or a locked trunk, to look for evidence, requires a warrant from a judge.

Police augmenting their sensory faculties, by opening locked doors, is considered an invasion of privacy without reasonable cause or a warrant. The ACLU, and quite a few defense attorneys agree, if the evidence cannot be collected with the eyes and ears of the officer, it requires approval from a judge. The Supreme Court Judges will make their decision in the coming months, on whether or not a warrant is required for GPS tracking.

Article Written by Marisa O’Connor