New Case Ruling: Police Must Obtain a Warrant Before Using a GPS Tracking Device

31 Oct 2013

A federal appellate court has finally ruled on an issue previously left hanging by a Supreme Court verdict in 2012. That issue: Do law enforcement authorities need a probable-cause warrant to attach a global positioning system (GPS) tracking device to a suspect’s vehicle?

That issue has now been answered thanks to a federal appeals court ruling that ruled that U.S. law enforcement agencies must obtain a warrant before hiding a GPS tracking device on a target’s vehicle.

GPS has gone through many transformations over the last decade and is now frequently used by law enforcement to help track criminals and even prevent thefts and other crimes from occurring. One of the common uses for law enforcement has been to hide a GPS tracker on a suspect’s vehicle and track the vehicle and suspect’s location.

While it has shown to be incredibly useful, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled in U.S. V. Katzin that authorities are disallowed from affixing a GPS tracker device to a suspect’s vehicle in the U.S. unless they have a warrant.

The case involved three brothers, Harry Katzin, Michael Katzin, and Mark Louis Katzin, Sr., who were suspected of a number of store thefts. Law enforcement placed a GPS tracking device on their car, then stopped the vehicle, and searched it after another local theft in their string of thefts. Law enforcement found stolen items in the vehicle, but the evidence was ruled inadmissible because of the use of the warrantless GPS tracking device. As such, the brothers had their convictions overturned.


Comments are closed.

About Live View GPS

We specialize in real time GPS tracking systems. GPS tracking, GPS monitoring and management for vehicles, assets, equipment, property and persons. Whether your needs are consumer or commercial based, personal or business related we have a cost effective GPS tracking solution for you. Locate in real-time and on demand vehicles, people and property from any web based computer. View these locations on our systems integrated maps. Our GPS devices are the real deal, they are tested and proven, they work.