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:Did he still steal stuff?

[d3ac0n]

From my basic understanding of the US legal system, evidence obtained improperly is considered tainted and suspect, and is thus thrown out.

Think of it this way; If the police officer in question is willing to collect evidence in a manner contrary to procedure and law, it is entirely likely that he is willing to plant or forge evidence to get a conviction.

Remember: In America, it's still "Innocent until proven guilty." no matter what one advocacy group or another might say. While I hate for a burglar to go free, we cannot assume that the defendant in this case was indeed a burglar just because the police say so. Nor can we assume the evidence wasn't forged in some manner if the police weren't even willing to follow procedure.

The judges did the right thing in tossing out the evidence, IMHO.

Re:What's Good for the Goose

[d3ac0n]

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

I was under the impression that police cruisers in most (if not all) locales in the US have been equipped with GPS tracking for many years now. I know for a fact that the NY State trooper vehicles have them (I have an in-law who's a trooper) and I think my local township does too. From what my in-law told me, the troopers union requested the GPS devices for officer safety reasons.