Police track criminals with planted GPS devices

But is this legal?

It has been months since police began tracking down a single man in a hoodie with a black ski mask caught holding up one gas station after another. It took authorities a bit of time before they solved a Long Island robbery spree, as the grainy surveillance footage was not enough to track down the suspect.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Because the investigators were able to embed a hidden GPS device in a stack of bills that the robber made off with, the gunman was tracked down and caught within days after being involved in almost a dozen heists, including an incident where a clerk was killed.

The suspect is now behind bars and police officers are giving credit to technology for a successful entrapment operation. Twenty-three-year old Joshua Golson-Orelus has been charged with robbery and murder for the series of heists. 

After the robbery suspect was arrested earlier this summer, Nassau County Police Chief Steven Skrynecki explained that the tools used to catch him are part of their arsenal, claiming that GPS is now used as a matter in their investigations. 

However, legal experts have reacted negatively and raise questions on the use of tiny satellite-connected devices that are embedded by the manufacturer, or set up by the police into stacks of cash, pill bottles or other commonly stolen items. According to the legal experts, this may lead to opportunities for abuse by law enforcement authorities, and they wonder if some of the cases will stand up in court. 

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court took on the police practice of planting GPS devices on suspects' vehicles to track down their whereabouts and movements, and as a result, set certain constitutional boundaries on GPS use. 

Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley of George Washington University said, "There is always a concern technology can outstrip existing constitutional law. Now it's up to the courts to decide when police departments can use this technology to facilitate an arrest and prosecution."

The legal experts have explained that the courts have generally stand by that when people steal something containing a tracking device, the authorities are within their rights to chase after them.

However, Jay Stanley, a policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, believes people shouldn't be monitored by GPS without a warrant. "If somebody steals an object and the police don't arrest them for six months and just collect information about how they're living their life, that could be problematic."

The president of Nassau County's police union has stated, "We're in a different world than we were 30 years ago, and we need to take advantage of what's being offered out there." 

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