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The Family Court of Muskegon County, Michigan, owns several vehicles which are used by county employees for official court business, such as checking up on juveniles who have passed through the court system. Some of these county employees, however, were suspected of using the vehicles for personal purposes while on the clock. County officials decided to quietly check up on those employees with some GPS technology.

GPS trackers were installed, unannounced, in the trunks of the county vehicles. After collecting tracking data during the month of June, officials compared the GPS record with the time sheets turned in by the employees in question. As suspected, three employees had, in fact, been using the vehicles for pleasure instead of business—while on the clock! Lengthy visits to a golf course and a gym were the most prominent abuses.

While some have questioned the “fairness” of the county in conducting the GPS tracking without informing employees, the general consensus seems to be that the operation was completely legal, and that the county has the right to check on its employees’ work activities without notifying them first. In fact, Chief Judge John Ruck of the county’s 14th Circuit Court says that the operation was so successful that the county expects to use the trackers again in the future.

Parents have been using GPS trackers to check up on the whereabouts of young drivers for some time. The accountability has proved to be an effective deterrent to activity that could raise questions later on. At first glance, it may seem unnerving to know that your employer might be tracking you while you are out on the job. Actually, many city employees (who are aware of GPS trackers on their vehicles) appreciate the supervision; it creates a true record of their honest day’s work and protects them from customers falsely claiming that city work was not done, such as plowing roads during snowy weather.

Two of the employees tracked by Muskegon County resigned their positions when confronted about their on-the-clock personal activity. The third employee, guilty of less serious misuse, will probably be permitted to keep his job, although it is assumed he will be a little more careful about what he does while working for the county! It appears that the purchase of three small GPS tracking devices was quite a cost effective use of taxpayers’ money.