California struggles with GPS tracking of sex offenders January 3, 2008
Posted by Rich in : GPS tracking and public safety, GPS tracking law , add a commentCalifornia’s Proposition 83, AKA Jessica’s law, passed by voters in 2006, continues to be problematic. The Schwarzenegger administration is currently trying to determine whether the state or counties are responsible for the required lifetime GPS tracking of sex offenders, once they complete parole. In the meanwhile, GPS tracking is being discontinued once an offender finishes parole.
GPS school buses for emergency response November 1, 2007
Posted by Rich in : GPS tracking and public safety , 2 comments
Over the past year or so, I’ve seen more reports of school districts using GPS for tracking school buses. I’ve often wondered what the benefits are — more efficient fleet management, improved route development, etc. But after last week’s deadly wildfires in Southern California, we see a new use.
GPS-equipped school buses can be used to shuttle emergency responders such as fire fighters, and evacuate those in need, including nursing home residents…
As reported on CNN, Heather Storke of Oceanside, CA said the fleet of school buses that normally transport children in Poway “saved my grandma and hundred of other elderly and disabled people.”
“My parents went quickly to get my Gram. The closer they got to Poway the thick cloud of smoke turned the sky as dark as pitch black night. When they arrived, there was a fleet of school buses waiting to evacuate the center’s residents whose families were unable to get there,” Storke said.
GPS detectors, jammers and spoofers September 24, 2007
Posted by Rich in : GPS tracking and privacy, GPS tracking and public safety, GPS tracking law , 1 comment so farSusan Brenner, a law professor specializing in cybercrime, has posted an article on GPS detectors, jammers and spoofers on her blog CYB3RCRIM3. It takes a while before she gets to the meat of it, but it’s a worthwhile read.
Along the way, she compares and contrasts state and federal treatment of radar detectors, how these devices could be used by criminals, the ability of government to outlaw tools that can be used in committing a crime, and public safety hazards associated with use of these devices.
Some basic points:
GPS detectors
It is not technically possible to detect a GPS receiver, only those devices which transmit your position.
GPS jamming devices
Apparently, these are not illegal in the U.S., though Ms. Brenner makes a case that they can (and should be) made illegal.
GPS spoofers
She also feels that spoofers, devices which can cause false location information to be received and therefore transmitted, also warrant outlawing.
Mercedes-Benz ignores two court orders to track hit and run driver before complying July 16, 2007
Posted by Rich in : GPS tracking and privacy, GPS tracking and public safety, GPS tracking law, GPS vehicle tracking , 11 commentsLast Tuesday night, 24-year-old Elizabeth Sandoval was killed by a hit and run driver in Glendale, California. Thanks to witness descriptions, the car and license tag were identified. Last Friday, Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams…
…admonished Mercedes-Benz of North America for refusing to comply with a court order to activate the car’s standard Global Positioning System so that authorities might pinpoint the sedan’s exact location.
“It’s one of the most frustrating thing in my 35 years of law enforcement,” he told reporters.
A court order police obtained at 2:30 p.m. Friday was faxed to Mercedes-Benz North American headquarters in New Jersey and to the company that provides the global positioning satellite service, Irving, Texas-based Tele-Aid.
The costs of GPS monitoring of criminals April 21, 2007
Posted by Rich in : GPS tracking and public safety, Uncategorized , add a commentNewsday reports on one Long Island community’s probation department that says they don’t have enough officers to track GPS monitored offenders.
John Desmond, director of Suffolk’s probation department, told his staff to stop recommending GPS devices as a condition of probation because the department does not have enough officers to supervise more accused and offenders.
“Additional cases at this time would pose a serious challenge to our ability to respond appropriately to alerts,” Desmond said in the March 9 memo obtained by Newsday.
Currently, 10 probation officers working in three shifts track the whereabouts of 50 criminals and defendants around the clock to ensure they don’t go where they’re not supposed to, Desmond said.
Law professors - Lifetime GPS tracking unconstitutional February 9, 2007
Posted by Rich in : GPS tracking and public safety, GPS tracking law , 1 comment so farThree University of Wisconsin - Madison law professors are taking issue with a state law that mandates lifetime GPS monitoring of sex offenders.
The measure violates privacy rights and amounts to punishment and warrantless surveillance when applied to offenders who aren’t on parole or government supervision, the professors said in a letter sent to Corrections Secretary Matthew Frank on Feb. 3.
Another issue is that while offenders would be banned from certain areas (near schools, etc.) and authorities alerted if they enter those zones, nothing in the law gives police the authority to stop them from entering them. Weird.
(more…)
Fresno police use GPS tracking to battle drunk drivers January 6, 2007
Posted by Rich in : GPS tracking and privacy, GPS tracking and public safety , add a commentFresno, California police are using GPS to battle drunk drivers:
…they are covertly planting Global Positioning System devices on the cars of convicted drunken drivers to monitor whether they are going to bars or liquor stores in violation of their probation or parole.
They are using other high-tech equipment as well, including night-vision goggles. Police say that the surreptitious placement of GPS tracking devices is permitted under parole and probation terms, but the ACLU says they are over reaching.
The GPS tracking is actually part of an aggressive program started four years ago that includes police watching and waiting outside bars and weeknight DUI checkpoints.
Technorati tag: GPS tracking
GPS tracking system leads to recovery of stolen bus December 16, 2006
Posted by Rich in : GPS tracking and public safety , 2 commentsGPS tracking systems are typically installed on buses to help keep them on schedule, notify fleet mangers, and keep riders notified about wait times. They aren’t added to deter thefts, which typically isn’t a problem with these large and difficult to hide vehicles. Yet in Ottawa, Canada, a thief decided to make off with a bus that happened to have a GPS tracking system installed:
A transit bus was was idling and unoccupied at the St. Laurent Boulevard transit garage at 3 a.m. Thursday morning, when it went missing.
But police used the satellite tracking device, or GPS, and found it at 4:23 a.m., abandoned near the intersection of Leitrim and Hall roads in the city’s far southeast end.
OC Transpo security superintendent Jim Babe said the stolen bus was one of 750 in OC Transpo’s fleet of 900 that have been equipped with GPS since the city started installing the satellite tracking devices earlier this year.
Via The Map Room
Technorati tags: GPS tracking, GPS tracking of buses, GPS tracking and theft prevention
GPS tracking of school buses December 8, 2006
Posted by Rich in : GPS tracking and public safety, GPS vehicle tracking, GPS tracking cell phones, GPS tracking children , add a commentWXIA-TV in Atlanta reports on GPS tracking of school buses. The tracking, done via Sprint Nextel cell phones, has seen costs plummet recently:
“This technology was something that used to be 1500-2000 dollars per bus and that information was not real time,” reveals Robert Lacey, Sprint/Nextel education account manager.
“With technology it brings it down to anywhere from $200 to $300 dollars per bus for the hardware. And, $1.00 to $1.50 a day for service fee.
Technorati tags: GPS tracking GPS tracking of school buses
GPS tracking of sex offenders November 11, 2006
Posted by Rich in : GPS tracking and public safety , 3 commentsEarlier this week, California voters passed Proposition 83, requiring GPS monitoring of sex offenders. The ballot measure had its flaws (such as forcing sex offenders to live in rural areas), and only a day after the election, that non-GPS component was blocked in court.
GPS tracking of convicted criminals is gaining popularity rapidly, but does it really work? Wired News recently explored GPS tracking of sex offenders:
But there’s a hitch: The ankle bracelets — usually accompanied by digital-pager-size transmitters — are hardly criminal-proof. Convicts can easily cut the bracelets off and run away as their probation officer gets an alarm and tries to contact the local police. For health reasons, the bracelets aren’t designed to be permanent.
“GPS will not prevent a crime,” said Steve Chapin, CEO of Pro Tech Monitoring, a manufacturer of GPS tracking devices. “It’s a crime deterrent. It has proven to be a good tool, but you can’t oversell it — there’s no physical barrier that it creates that can prevent a crime.”
Here’s a little bit more of the story:
