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Police Using G.P.S. Units as Evidence in Crimes
AP
Sunday, Aug 31, 2008
Like millions of motorists, Eric Hanson used a Global Positioning System device in his Chevrolet TrailBlazer to find his way around. He probably did not expect that prosecutors would use it, too — to help convict him of killing four family members.
Prosecutors in suburban Chicago analyzed data from the Garmin G.P.S. device to pinpoint where Mr. Hanson had been on the morning after his parents were fatally shot and his sister and brother-in-law bludgeoned to death in 2005. He was convicted of the killings this year and sentenced to death.
Mr. Hanson’s trial was among recent criminal cases in which the authorities used such navigation devices to help establish a defendant’s whereabouts. Experts say such evidence will almost certainly become more common in court as the systems become more affordable and show up in more vehicles.
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“There’s no real doubt,” said Alan Brill, a computer forensics expert in Minnesota who has worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service. “This follows every other technology that turns out to have information of forensic value. I think what we’re seeing is evolutionary.”
Using technology to track a person’s location is nothing new, but the popularity of the Global Positioning System — in cars, cellphones and other handheld devices — gives the authorities a powerful tool to track suspects.
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11 Responses to “Police Using G.P.S. Units as Evidence in Crimes”
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August 31st, 2008 at 9:58 am
well, i’m against being tracked and all but if you’re under investigation for murder than use it—don’t be so blind to see one’s right of privacy can be violated if you violate someone’s right to live
August 31st, 2008 at 10:03 am
Another example of trying to convince the public that tracking everyone and everything is beneficial–Show the big old boogie man that was taken down by this cool new technology.
While I am sad for the loss of the lives, I am more scared over this next step in the complete control of our lives by ever more watchful eyes.
August 31st, 2008 at 10:21 am
Yeah OnStar probably or the cell phone was used. I wonder if OnStar would do you any good if you press the button and say that someone is chasing you, like the cops…. Would they tell you to pull over and someone would assist you?
August 31st, 2008 at 11:55 am
If you own a cell phone gps credit cards any bank card get rid of them right now allways cash cash cash. All new electrical gadgets are trackable. Go out and buy old stuff telophone with the old style dialing system. Be safe from ALL government even the small town mayor. KEEP AWAY FROM ALL RELGION 1 CHRISTIANITY 2 ISLAM i see the brain dead everywhere.
August 31st, 2008 at 12:02 pm
What’s really needed is GPS and surveillance and camera tracking of all government employees and “elected representatives”. They do the most damage and commit the worst crimes after all. You should be able to know their whereabouts and doings 24/7 at the click of a mouse.
August 31st, 2008 at 1:00 pm
this is something that i have been saying since the first time i installed a nav system years ago. if you can read your position from bouncing signals off of satellites, what is to stop them from reading where you are? the same thing goes for satellite radio. same GPS antenna, same basic principle. and for any of you who don’t know… bluetooth is nothing more than a low grade transponder that is capable of transmitting and receiving data. eventually they will be able to track you from your bluetooth enabled phone, if they can’t already. i said it b4 and i will say it again… everyday seems more and more like 1984 instead of 2008
August 31st, 2008 at 1:29 pm
OJ Simpson had a GPS unit in his SUV that placed him at the scene of his ex-wife’s murder, but the court threw out the evidence because the judge said that “GPS is racist.”
August 31st, 2008 at 4:42 pm
First off all, this is NOT a “tracking device” in the sense used by Alex Jones et al. GPS receivers RECEIVE, not TRANSMIT!
This is NOT a real time tracking device unlike a cell phone. What they are talking about here is the police reading the memory of the GPS device to find where you have been, not where you are now. Most, if not all, GPS receivers keep records of previous trips and THAT information can be used to show where you were at a particular time in the past, such as during a murder.
This is no different to using phone records or credit card records or any of a number of other records that you leave in your wake to determine where you were.
Even if you are a cash based person, you still leave transaction records behind at many places – for example gas stations often record the license plates of cars filling up in case the driver leaves without paying.
This is NOT tracking! Tracking is having your current location available in real time. This is tracing, which is determining where you were in the past, using any and all available records of your movements.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:19 am
Karmakaze is completely 100% wrong. Any and all GPS sytems can (with the required software at the trackers end) be tracked in real time.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:05 am
We had a gentlemen in my town that was drunk and ran into several cars, thus damaging his own car, because of this damage to his car, his car automatically called up the police station to report that he had been involved in a traffic accident. They soon located him and arrested him after his car provide continuous location updates to the police as he drove away.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:40 am
GSP does not have to transmit a signal in order to be tracked. The time difference tells the GPS receiver how far away the satellite is. Distance measurements from a multiple satellites determines the user’s position.
Karmakaze has no idea what he is talking about.