Charlie Langton: What Does A Tracking Device Have In Common With A Pizza Flyer?
Should police be permitted to use a GPS tracking device to follow potential lawbreakers? Yes! It is time that law enforcement use advanced technology to go after the bad guys who are already using advanced technology.
Criminals (alleged) routinely use cellphones, the Internet, and even coded Twitter and Facebook entries to commit crimes. I know that because I've represented some. What's good for the criminal should be good for the cop.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments next month in a case that could decide how far law enforcement can go in tracking criminals. The United States vs. Jones is a case where a tracking device was put on Jones' car while it was parked in a public parking lot in Maryland after a search warrant had expired and where the cops had followed Jones for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 4 weeks.
Jones was a reputed cocaine-selling nightclub owner. The cops tracked him to a crack house where he was caught in the act of selling drugs and was found with $850,000 on him. Jones attempted to get the evidence of his drugs and cash thrown out arguing that his privacy rights were invaded by police. He lost and appealed to the Supreme Court who felt it necessary to review this case.
I believe the court will focus on one major topic in deciding this important privacy case. That is, the location of the car at the time the tracking device was placed on it by police. The focus is the "where" the device was planted, not the fact that the device was planted.
Privacy rights do exist. For example, one has an expectation of privacy if a car was parked in your garage. Further, one expects privacy in one's glove compartment or trunk. In those examples, the police would need a search warrant.
However, as in the Jones case, his car was parked in a public parking lot and the device was placed on the car- no different from a flyer being put on your car advertising free pizza after the Tiger game. Oh I know, the police can follow a criminal and they do but a tracking device is an electronic follower and nobody doubts that your privacy is invaded when a cop follows you.
How common are police tracking devices? Not very popular today but criminals beware. If the Supreme Court rules the way I think they will, these tracking devices will be common practice in law enforcement. Or, in other words, the cops will be keeping up with the Joneses.
