Miscellaneous

Do police officers have GPS on them?

Do police officers have GPS on them?

Police officers sometimes use GPS devices for uses that don’t involve vehicle tracking. For example, GPS trackers can be used to track suspicious cargo, providing valuable guidance for the prosecution. GPS data can also help lead police to stolen or missing vehicles.

How is GPS tracking used by law enforcement?

Police can use GPS technology in many ways in their everyday work. Below are four ways GPS tracking can be used by police departments. Law enforcement can better serve their local communities through the use of modern technology.

Can a GPS help an officer in an emergency?

When an officer has an emergency, GPS can provide the vehicle’s location, but this doesn’t help if the officer isn’t near the vehicle. To assist in this, GPS modules are also being included in newer models of hand-held radios and shoulder microphones.

How does the Milwaukee police tracking system work?

A team consisting of a Sergeant and a Crime Analyst from the Milwaukee Police Department enabled a GPS tracking system on a smart phone to capture officer locations. The location was captured from the officer’s smart phone in the form of GPS coordinates.

Can a company track an employee’s GPS location?

With more recent technology, employers are able to track locations through GPS apps in employees’ smartphones. But tracking presents risks employers need to understand so they can evaluate whether the potential benefits outweigh the significant risks.

Can a police officer use a GPS device?

A separate set of legal issues is raised when the police want to use a GPS device to track the movements of a suspected criminal over time. Police have used GPS devices for this purpose in the past, attaching GPS devices to a suspect’s vehicle or other belongings to track their movement.

Is it legal to track your employees using GPS?

Tracking employees using their personally owned property is still a legal gray area. Only monitor employees to the extent that it is justified by a business need. There are risks associated with tracking employees via GPS, namely that an employee will feel his or her privacy has been violated and commence litigation.

What happens if an employee disables a GPS device?

If an employee will be disciplined for disabling a GPS device without the employer’s permission, the GPS tracking policy should also notify the employees of those consequences in advance. Be sure to communicate the policy to all employees, and ask that employees acknowledge their receipt and understanding of the policy.

Is it a misdemeanor to use GPS in Illinois?

For example, an Illinois statute enacted in 2014 makes it a criminal misdemeanor to use GPS tracking to monitor the location of a vehicle without the vehicle owner’s consent, unless the tracking is lawfully done by a law enforcement agency. See 720 ILCS 5/21-2.5.