Rocky Mountain Tracking

By Harriette Halepis

Memphis, Tennessee, may set the standard for police patrol all across the world. The Memphis police force has announced that it plans to place GPS tracking devices on all criminals out on bail within the very near future.

Criminals in Lauderdale, Tipton, Fayette, and Shelby counties will be monitored around the clock by the Memphis police force’s “Real Time Crime Center.” In addition, criminals in Crittenden County, Arkansas, and Desoto Country, Mississippi, will also be tracked.

The grand tally of criminals that will soon be tracked in real time totals around 2,000. The total cost of implementing this system will be around $2 million. Presently, 300 convicted sex offenders in Tennessee wear GPS tracking systems – these devices have been proven to be of great use to police.

While the tracking of criminals may not prevent crimes, it will certainly provide police with clues when a crime does occur. Often, when crimes occur, police cannot pinpoint suspects right away. However, with the implementation of GPS trackers, police will be able to determine whether or not a criminal was in the area of a crime when it occurred.

This recent GPS tracking decision has many human rights activists up in arms – after all, is it just to assume that a criminal had something to do with a crime simply due to location? Then again, GPS tracking systems are so precise that police can easily tell where a criminal was when a crime was taking place.

For example, it is entirely possible that a criminal may be shopping at a hardware store when a robbery has occurred down the street from the hardware store. But, in this instance, police would have the ability to note that the criminal in question was not actually at the scene of the crime.

Of course, there is a possibility that a criminal could be shopping at that very same hardware store during a robbery, though they had nothing to do with the actual robbery. While this scenario is, indeed, bothersome, it is unlikely that this type of coincidence would occur.

Should criminals be tracked? Is GPS technology making the world a safer place? Is there any reason why criminals out on bail shouldn’t be tracked? While these questions remain unanswered at the moment, those that are curious as to the effectiveness of GPS tracking systems will keep a close eye on the new Tennessee tracking project.