GPS Tracking Benefits for Law Enforcement

The news is full of excellent stories about how GPS is helpful to businesses, consumers, and even ambulances. You probably haven’t seen as many stories about how many benefits GPS tracking represents for law enforcement.  However, there are many. These are just a few ways in which police departments and their officers can benefit from law enforcement GPS technology.

Evidence Gathering

GPS tracking logs and data provide outstanding historical data. In the evidentiary process, this type of evidence can confirm or discredit alibis, establish vehicle locations at specific times, and determine how long the vehicle was in a specific location. This information can be critical when establishing “opportunity” in relationship to specific crimes.

For the sake of law enforcement professionals, it’s even possible to use GPS tracking in order to defend against accusations levied against them for common, and often unfounded, complaints such as driving speeds, operating outside of patrol areas, and harassment. How does that work? By establishing where vehicles are at all times. GPS tracking can even determine the speed the car is traveling at any given time to provide evidence that officers are operating according to department policies at all times. Of course, it is necessary to abide by GPS tracking warrant rules.

Locating Stolen Property

Not all property is equipped with GPS tracking equipment, but many vehicles and pieces of heavy machinery, construction vehicles and equipment, farm equipment/vehicles are equipped with this type of technology. It makes them easier to locate and recover once stolen. In some cases, GPS tracking systems also have the ability to disable the vehicle rendering it inoperable once the device activates.

Real Time Location Ability

This is a critical benefit of GPS tracking for the purpose of faster response times. GPS devices can determine which officers are closest to the emergency call and can get their fastest. This means officers are able to get to the locations where they are needed most, faster. It reduces response time and can be the literal difference between life and death in emergencies.

The other benefit of real time location is that when you call for backup assistance, your backup knows your precise GPS location. There’s no doubt about where you are and they can get to you quickly – even if you’re on the move.

Tactical Advantages When Pursuit is Necessary

While it would be great if high-speed chases were a thing of the past, the overwhelming desire of most offenders to flee the scene, even when caught, often leads down that path. Knowing the exact location of all vehicles allows you a tactical advantage when deciding the best path to take in order to cover all points of escape for the fleeing vehicle.

While some people are slow to embrace change, GPS tracking provides so many potential advantages to law enforcement today that the bigger question would be why aren’t you using it already?

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