NY Court Says Police Can't Track Suspect With GPS

SoundGuyNoise sends in a story that brings into relief just how unsettled is the question of whether police can use GPS to track suspects without a warrant. Just a couple of days ago a Wisconsin appeals court ruled that such tracking is OK; and today an appeals court in New York reached the opposite conclusion. "It was wrong for a police investigator to slap a GPS tracking device under a defendant's van to track his movements, the state's top court ruled today. A sharply divided NY Court of Appeals, in a 4-3 decision, reversed the burglary conviction of defendant Scott Weaver, 41, of Watervliet. Four years ago, State Police tracked Weaver over 65 days in connection with the burglary investigation."

Comments

Re:Headline is inaccurate

[Teese]

Which is weird, because in the Wisconsin case, the officers had a warrant. The judges there said it wasn't needed!

Re:What's the matter with these cops?

[sjames]

You mean the police should actually demonstrate integrity by making sure they obey the law they're sworn to uphold!

What's Good for the Goose

[bperkins]

I understand the argument that GPS tracking is not significantly more intrusive than tailing.

But I wonder how police officers would react if GPS devices were surreptitiously placed on their cruisers.

Re:Headline is inaccurate

[cayenne8]

"Unless the DEA decides to go after you. This is why not everything should be a federal offense."

Well, hopefully with the recent trend of more states trying to assert more of states rights...maybe these will be repealed.

I heard something on the news this morning, of something going on in Montana with their gun laws that are challenging the Fed. interestate commerce powers. Since this is tied to guns, it just may fasttrack itself to the SCOTUS. I for one sure would love to see much of the Fed's power struck down and more narrowly define the interstate commerce powers the Federal govt. has used to strong arm the states over a lot of things.

Re:State vs US from a Southerner.

[cayenne8]

"We here in South Carolina applaud your rhetoric but thanks to that Yankee jackass Lee, your assertion that we are state citizens first and US citizens second has been proven false. For all the crap people give the south, I'm glad y'all are realizin' what the whole "state rights" thing was about. I always read with interest the rants most recently from Cali and Texas governments about their relationship with the Fed."

Actually, I am from and live in the deep south. My college roommate once joked that anyone born north of I-10 (that passes through New Orleans) was a yankee. He was a bit stringent on that definition...hahaha.

But, rather than get into a discussion on the war of northern aggression, lets let the past be where it is...enjoy the fact that we are still one large country, but, try to undo some of the ill effects of the past, and support these laws that are trying to help reassert states' rights, and give the 10th amendment some teeth again.

:)