Rocky Mountain Tracking

Daily GPS News

GPS Bracelets For Human Rights Workers

May 22nd, 2013

Swedish human rights organization Civil Rights Defenders, existing to defend the civil and political rights of people, has developed a special GPS tracking bracelet in the hopes of keeping their workers safe from harm out in the field.

The GPS tracking bracelet and network of watchers is dubbed the Natalia Project, named after the 2009 kidnapping and murder victim Natalia Estemirova, a Chechen civil rights worker.

How It Works

If a person wearing the GPS tracking bracelet is abducted or attacked, an alert is transmitted to the other members of the network thanks to cellular phone technology. The bracelet can also transmit pre-written messages upon activation. Activation is either done manually by the wearer, if they feel threatened, or automatically upon the forcible removal of the bracelet by kidnappers or attackers.

The Civil Rights Defenders said, “The bracelet has been developed and tested to make sure it works with ease – even in the most demanding situations. When a distress signal is sent out, Civil Right Defenders will validate the signal, take appropriate action and keep you updated on the situation as it unfolds.”

GPS Tracking Bracelet To The Rescue

When the device is activated, it transmits crucial GPS location data regarding where the person was attacked as well as who was attacked. Messages can be posted to Twitter and Facebook as well, which according to BBC helps “rally support” when something goes wrong. Another plus: the device alerts aid workers close to the attack so that they can try to help.

“Civil Rights Defenders wants people to sign up to monitor the bracelets of individual rights workers via social media. It hopes the global involvement will act as a deterrent to anyone planning attacks on aid workers,” said BBC News. They added the people monitoring the bracelets could “help bring pressure to bear on governments to find or release people abducted or jailed.”

Civil Rights Defenders intends to have 55 bracelets on the wrists of human rights workers by the end of 2014. The need for these devices is highlighted by the executive director of the Civil Rights Defenders, Robert Hardh: “Most of us, given the chance, would like to help others in danger. These civil rights defenders are risking their lives for others to have the right to vote, or to practice religion or free speech.”

GPS: How It Started, And What It’s Become

May 22nd, 2013

Forty years ago, Professor Colonel Bradford W. Parkinson chaired a group of members of the Air Force who would eventually go on to create a system that relied on satellites to calculate as closely as possible the position of a person on the ground holding the proper receiver, what we know as GPS location today. Now 78 years old, he recalls what it was like, and how far the program has come.

“The innovator,” he said at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, paraphrasing Machiavelli, “has for enemies all who have done well under the old condition and lukewarm defenders who may do well under the new.”

GPS Is Everywhere

I don’t think you can say GPS technology has any enemies. With all of the gadgets incorporating GPS technology – smartphones, sports watches, athletic apparel, vehicles – I think it’s safe to say the market is ever-expanding. Currently, there are approximately six hundred million GPS devices being used all over the world. As Parkinson pointed out, they are accurate “down to a snail’s eyebrow.”

Parkinson says it’s “pretty darn surprising” to see the range of applications one can find GPS devices: emergency dispatch; air traffic control; locating Alzheimer’s patients and missing children; search and rescue missions; geocaching; guiding farm equipment; and tracking military soldiers and equipment, just to name a few.

Where GPS Started

The first true GPS device was an experimental one. A military aircraft carried the device, which monitored signals being sent out from four locations on the ground. Five years later, the satellites were launched into orbit, and in September of 1983, two weeks following the death of 269 people when the Soviet Air Force shot down a Korean airliner, president Ronald Reagan gave it the green light to be used by the public.

GPS Today

What started as a location approximation is now incredibly precise. How precise? Our current GPS technology is so accurate in three dimensions, measurements taken in space of the instabilities in the Juan de Fuca Plate (where scientists believe an earthquake will occur that will destroy Vancouver) are precise up to a tenth of a millimeter.

Too Good To Be True?

Do we really have a right to know where anyone is at any given time? The issue is being raised in the court system, but what does Parkinson think?

“Criminals know they’re being tracked and they don’t want to be,” he said. “Teenagers probably have a similar view of life.”

A reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press, upon discovering the devices known as jammers, which is purported to be “a popular item with sales personnel, truckers, and delivery drivers who wish to take lunch or make a personal stop outside of their territory or route off the radar,” asked Parkinson, “Isn’t it natural to want to disappear sometimes?”

His reply: “Most of us are uncomfortable with someone following us all the time. But the real answer for why these things exist is that some people in China discovered there’s a market for this.”

A Spotlight On Tracking Your Furry Friend With GPS

May 21st, 2013

More and more, pet owners are turning to GPS tracking devices to keep their furry friends safe in the event they wander away from their home.

One such dog, a stray named Lightning who was living in the woods of New Hampshire, was rescued with the help of GPS tracking technology. He was not fond of humans and would bolt whenever those attempting to capture him would get close. He spent a year on the loose.

When rescuers did capture Lightning, they placed a GPS tracking collar on him so that his new owner, Linda Copson of Sugar Hill, can track him down in the event he goes missing on her 13 acre property.

How They Work

Each GPS tracking tool works a bit differently, but the principles are the same. It relies on GPS satellites to obtain the exact GPS location of the animal which is visible online via the GPS tracking site, and some have smartphone apps associated with them to search on the go.

You can set up a geo-fence, a predetermined area the animal is allowed to roam, and receive an alert via email or text message when the animal leaves this area. Most allow you to customize how often the system pings the GPS device as well.

You can usually track the life left in the battery, as well as see the path the animal travels on any given day.

Tracking Pets: Becoming More Common

Just how many are relying on this important tool? Bob Vetere, president of the American Pets Products Association, said that although the data is not yet available as to the sales of GPS monitoring tools for pets, electronics sales related to pets in general is a $56 billion industry. He expects these numbers to climb over time.

He said, “We are helicopter parents and we hover over our kids all the time and now we are hovering over our dogs and cats.”

Chips vs. GPS Trackers

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals estimates 7 million pets are brought to animal shelters each year, a small percentage of which have microchips implanted or tags that identify the pet and its owners. The shelters and veterinarians offices can scan the chips to obtain this ownership information.

However, the chips cannot be used to determine a pet’s specific location. The tracking systems help the pet owners before the animal is turned in to the shelters, reuniting them sooner.

Copson is allowing Lightning out on a leash for now, as he is still adjusting to life with an owner. When an animal lives on its own for so long, it can become leery of any human contact. When the time comes for him to roam free on her property, the GPS tracking collar she relies on will become crucial to his safety. She said, “It’s all about having peace of mind.”

Britain: GPS Tracking Of Stolen Vehicles Put To The Test

May 18th, 2013

GPS tracking devices have been relied upon by many private investigators for a long time. They are effective in locating just about anything all over the world, especially expensive items like iPhones and cars.

Over in the UK, the Telegraph reported recently on a CCTV video released by the West Midlands Police showing two men stealing a BMW 118D from a hotel parking lot in Ladywood, Birmingham in under 15 seconds. This certainly shows the merits of a GPS tracking device when it comes to recovering your stolen car. The two men, brothers, stole a total of 13 cars over the period of 20 days, a combined value of about £250,000. The GPS tracking device, very well hidden on the BMW, directed police right to the garage attached to the brothers’ house in Brierley Hill’s Old Bush Industrial estate in Birmingham.

The brothers were sentenced to four years in prison for conspiracy to steal motor vehicles at Birmingham Crown Court.

GPS: Recovering Cars Quickly and Easily

Investigating officer DC Matt Dyer of the West Midlands Police said, “This was an organized, sophisticated operation with high performance cars being stolen in less than 60 seconds. Their method of entry was somewhat rudimentary, but once inside they clearly demonstrated technical skill to start the engine very quickly.

“Our investigation led us to recover all but one of the cars they stole. Car theft is a very risky business given that so many are now fitted with (GPS) tracker devices and that our road network is covered extensively by Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras which allow us to monitor vehicle movement.”

Private Investigator Agrees

Private Investigator, an independent detective agency out of Birmingham, also relies on GPS tracking devices. They also turn to the devices in cases where one spouse is said to be cheating on the other to see where it is they are going. As soon as the device is affixed to the vehicle, tracking can begin. The use of tracking devices on the vehicles stolen by the brothers allowed the owners to be reunited with their property.

Says Kristy George, spokeswoman for Private Investigator: “In my professional opinion these brothers were lucky to have stolen as many cars as they did with all the crime prevention modern technology available. An expensive vehicle like a BMW should be fitted with a GPS tracker for the owner’s peace of mind.”

An Update On OR-7

May 17th, 2013

OR-7, also known as “The Lone Wolf,” is still wandering the wilderness, being tracked via GPS tracking collar. We’ve provided updates along his journey, and will continue to do so until he can be tracked no more. It seems the famous gray wolf has crossed Interstate 5 a total of two times in the past few months.

For the past six weeks, the 4-year-old wolf has been meandering his way in and out of Jackson County, occasionally heading into the eastern portion of Douglas County, and then heading back for a short while to California, where he had his first I-5 crossing experience.

The GPS tracking collar shows the wolf crossing the Interstate near Yreka, CA which is in the northern portion of the state. This is the farthest west the wolf has ever traveled in the entire 19 months he’s been wearing the GPS tracking device, according to US Fish and Wildlife Service reps.

After crossing I-5, he turned around and headed the way he came, again crossing the Interstate. John Stephenson, a USFWS biologist who’s responsible for watching OR-7 move about the area from the comforts of his Bend, OR office said, “Hopefully, he’ll stop doing that. That’s not a good strategy for longevity.”

He trekked north again according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, heading into the southeastern part of Jackson County and the hills to the south of Emigrant Lake just east of Ashland.

OR-7 is the only known gray wolf ambling about California since 1924. And when he is in Oregon, he is the first known gray wolf residing west of the Cascades ever since the last one was killed in order to protect livestock in the area back in 1937.

Mark Vargas is with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Rogue District, working as a wildlife biologist. He said, “Man, that wolf can travel. The distances he’s covering is amazing. He could be back in Siskiyou County (California) as we speak.”

OR-7 has been traveling from Oregon to California and back again last spring as well, in his quest to find a place to call home and a mate. He ended up almost in Nevada, at which point he turned around and walked all the way back. Vargas says, “Who knows where he’s going.”

You can be sure we will keep you up to date as to the movements of this great creature. The entire world seems to be watching, too: his story has been covered in a total of five continents.

Lawmakers Trying to Limit The Use of GPS Tracking By Law Enforcement

May 17th, 2013

Legislation was introduced by a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both the House and the Senate that requires police to obtain a warrant prior to collecting data from a suspect’s tablet, cellphone, car, or any other electronic device.

The Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance (GPS) Act addresses both location records held by cellphone service providers and real-time tracking of people as they move about town.

A total of 9 representatives in the House along with two senators brought the bills forward respectively. Among them: representatives Jason Chaffetz, John Conyers, and Jim Sensenbrenner, and Senators Ron Wyden an Mark Kirk.

This legislation will not only require a warrant: it will also deem illegal the use of any electronic device to track a person’s location covertly. This part of the bill addresses the problem of the jealous boyfriend who tracks his girlfriend with an app he secretly installs on her iPhone. It also relates to companies as well, requiring their employees to grant permission to gather GPS location data.

“New technologies are making it increasingly easy to track and log the location of individuals. We need to make sure laws are keeping up with technology to protect our privacy,” said Chaffetz. “Put simply, the government and law enforcement should not be able to track somebody indefinitely without their knowledge or consent or without obtaining a probable cause warrant from a judge.”

Wyden agrees: “The GPS Act provides law enforcement with a clear mandate for when to obtain a warrant for the geolocation information of an American…It also provides much-needed legal clarity for commercial service providers who often struggle to balance the privacy of their customers with requests for information from law enforcement. Finally, it protects the privacy and civil liberty of any American using a GPS-enabled device.”

There is an exception: the bill allows GPS tracking in emergency situations or issues of national security.

GPS Device Helped Land D.C. Shooting Suspect In Jail

May 17th, 2013

A 19-year-old man was connected to the horrific mass shooting on North Capitol Street in Washington D.C. in early March thanks to the court appointed GPS tracking ankle bracelet, according to court documents.

That’s right: the suspect, Craig Steven Wilson of Southeast Washington, was wearing a GPS monitoring bracelet. In D.C. Superior Court, the judge asked that he be detained until the date of his next hearing, even though he was already under court supervision.

Wilson, upon his arrest, was charged with assault with intent to kill after the March 11 shooting, which wounded 13 people, one of whom is listed in critical condition, outside of an apartment high-rise off New York Avenue.

Although court documents state how the suspect was caught, no motive is given as to why Wilson opened fire that morning at approximately 2:10 in the morning. The surveillance video shows the barrage of gunfire and victims hitting the ground, leaving residents in the 1200 block of North Capitol Street NW quite uneasy. It is also near to NoMa, which is an up-and-coming area for upscale shopping and residents.

One of the two cars used in the shooting belonged to Wilson, which they determined through viewing security cameras and obtaining the license plate number.

Upon learning his identity, they checked out the location data on his GPS tracking bracelet: it placed him two blocks from the shooting scene at approximately one hour prior to the shooting. When they looked at further GPS location data, they “watched” him circle the block for over an hour, culminating in him speeding past the building and opening fire.

In 2012, D.C. Superior Court mandated GPS monitoring for 1,351 defendants; 110 of those were arrested thanks to the device and charged with new crimes. 11 of them involved violence.

It is clear that GPS monitoring of criminals is an important step to holding them accountable for any future actions they might commit, as well as providing rock solid evidence placing them at the scene of a crime.

Jackson, MS: GPS Tracking of Sex Offenders Likely

May 3rd, 2013

A big issue for law enforcement wherever you are: sex offenders and their propensity to reoffend. In efforts to curb this behavior, many cities are enacting legislation asking that criminals be monitored with GPS devices upon their release.

Jackson, MS is the latest city to bring this legislation to the table, and it appears it may soon become law. Yes, Mississippi does require sex offenders to register every 90 days. However, this isn’t common practice with all of them and legislators want to do something about it to protect victims.

“The fact is these are just the kinds of criminals who repeat their offenses and all these bills do is enforce our current sex offender laws using modern technology,” said Senator Will Longwitz.

The bill up for discussion is named Lenora’s Law, named after a woman who investigators state was killed by a convicted sex offender from Rankin County who did not register as he was supposed to. It was created in an effort to hold those convicted offenders not registering to be monitored by a GPS device. The senate has passed the bill, as well as the house after making amendments.

Longwitz says, “It protects victims of sex offenses from people who have proven they can’t follow the law.” He supports all amendments made.

What changed? The house added verbiage that gives judges the power to assign GPS tracking devices to convicted sex offenders. Also, the amendments increases the distance of how close a sex offender can live to places children congregate such as schools and playgrounds. The change: from 1,500 feet to 3,00 feet.

Support is abundant, said Longwitz. “Everybody I talk to, democrat, republican, liberal, conservative has told me they wish we could do more of this,” he said.

Lenora Ehegard’s sister, Becky Macon, stated that this law should have been in place prior to the death of her sister. “This may not have happened to our sister had this law been in place,” she said.

Longwitz intends to ask the senate to approve the amendments, with the end goal of getting the bill on the governor’s desk as soon as possible for a signature.

GPS Tracking To Keep Employees Honest

May 1st, 2013

More and more, employers are watching where their workers are going in their company vehicles. It makes sense from an employer standpoint, but what do employees think?

Tracking Employees

Employers stand much to gain from relying on GPS devices to track their workers. Just the fact you can save a substantial amount of money in excessive, unnecessary wear and tear makes it a winning choice in an effort to add to your profit margin. It only adds to the value of the GPS tracking device when you know your drivers are making it on time to their destination, and not misreporting their time.

The general manager of Auckland’s Drain Repair Company in New Zealand can attest to its value. Ryan Lusty said that for the price of $1000 per vehicle, GPS tracking devices were installed in every one of its fleet six years ago. The purpose of the GPS devices was to monitor the location of the workers, how long they were taking to finish jobs and move on to the next location, and their rate of speed.

“The reason why we put them is just to stop the extra travel, because the vehicles do get abused if you can’t see them,” he said. “They will shoot to the city in the middle of the night or something stupid like that. Now we know how long they are on jobs for, and if they have gone the best, shortest way to a job.”

Of course, the employees weren’t pleased with the decision to install the GPS devices, according to Lusty.

“At the start the guys weren’t very happy about it, obviously, but everybody has got used to it now and it’s standard practice. Everybody knows it’s there and they are work vehicles and that’s it. Everybody knows we are watching them at all times,” said Lusty.

All over New Zealand, workers are being called out for their misdeeds thanks to GPS fleet tracking. For example, in Nelson, a man responsible for maintenance for Downer was caught going home hours before he was claiming on his time sheet, often falsely claiming overtime when he was really relaxing at home on the couch. In Whangarei, a linesman working on street lights was also discovered falsely reporting hours, where the work vehicle was shown sitting in his driveway at home. Both men were fired.

David Lowe is the employment services manager for the EMA, and he says that employers “don’t like catching employees doing bad things…so the best practice is to discuss it with them, discuss what the system can do. We would rather people realize themselves that if they are doing something that maybe they shouldn’t, it will get picked up.”

License Plate Readers: The Hot Debate In California

May 1st, 2013

If you’re law enforcement, you love them. If you’re the public, chances are pretty good you hate them. Either way, the Piedmont, CA government is proposing license plate reader cameras that record GPS location data of vehicles passing through all entrances and exits from the city, and it’s attracting a lot of attention.

Those who oppose this idea do so primarily for privacy purposes. Linda Lye, attorney with the ACLU of Northern California said in an interview to KQED public radio recently, “What privacy safeguards are in place? Comprehensive location tracking reveals intimate details about lives.” She pointed to examples such as visiting a gay bar or attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. It is likely you wouldn’t want GPS location data recorded for those visits.

Just A Few Concerns

Lye has an issue with the fact Piedmont intends to keep the records collected by the license plate readers for a full year. She wonders what the records will be used for.

A San Francisco Chronicle website reader commented, “So we have to have a car license plate photographed when I drive on Grand Ave into Piedmont to get to the Rockridge District of Oakland. And if something happened in precious Piedmont your cops will be knocking on my door asking what was my business in Piedmont.”

Kate Bott, Piedmont High School student, wrote a letter to The Piedmont Highlander, “Although we are not to the point of a ‘Big Brother’ scenario George Orwell describes in 1984, we are getting increasingly closer to world like Orwell describes. Upon hearing about the $1,513,456 purchase of license plate readers, not including the cost of installation and power, I was astounded by the lengths this town is going to just to monitor vehicles going in and out of Piedmont.”

There Are Scant Supporters

Some residents completely support the installation and use of the GPS tracking data recording license plate readers. “As an Oakland resident, it’s nice to see a city taking proactive measures to address their crime problem,” commented a reader on the San Francisco Chronicle website.

However, will it really keep you safer? Some think not. Let’s look at the fact many criminals use cars that have no license plates at all, or the license plate number itself is obscured or altered in some way. A reader aptly pointed out that the technology of the license plate reader was created simply to identify stolen vehicles, not stop crime from occurring whatsoever.

No Decision Yet

The Piedmont City Council has yet to decide whether to implement this program, and is waiting to hear thoughts from the Public Safety Committee as well as pinning down the cost. The system is expected to cost $1 million to install, and another $1,000 or more each month to operate and maintain. They are also considering choosing certain entrances and exits to the city rather than every single one.

How would you feel about this technology being implemented in your city? Do you think it will be effective, or is it just a major breach of privacy?