Wisconsin court: Police may use GPS tracking on anyone they want.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-gps-police,0,5890193.story

chicagotribune.com

Wisconsin court upholds GPS tracking by police

By RYAN J. FOLEY

Associated Press Writer

2:42 PM CDT, May 7, 2009

MADISON, Wis.

Wisconsin police can attach GPS to cars to secretly track anybody's movements without obtaining search warrants, an appeals court ruled Thursday. 

However, the District 4 Court of Appeals said it was "more than a little troubled" by that conclusion and asked Wisconsin lawmakers to regulate GPS use to protect against abuse by police and private individuals. 

As the law currently stands, the court said police can mount GPS on cars to track people without violating their constitutional rights -- even if the drivers aren't suspects. 

Officers do not need to get warrants beforehand because GPS tracking does not involve a search or a seizure, Judge Paul Lundsten wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel based in Madison. 

That means "police are seemingly free to secretly track anyone's public movements with a GPS device," he wrote. 

One privacy advocate said the decision opened the door for greater government surveillance of citizens. Meanwhile, law enforcement officials called the decision a victory for public safety because tracking devices are an increasingly important tool in investigating criminal behavior. 

The ruling came in a 2003 case involving Michael Sveum, a Madison man who was under investigation for stalking. Police got a warrant to put a GPS on his car and secretly attached it while the vehicle was parked in Sveum's driveway. The device recorded his car's movements for five weeks before police retrieved it and downloaded the information. 

The information suggested Sveum was stalking the woman, who had gone to police earlier with suspicions. Police got a second warrant to search his car and home, found more evidence and arrested him. He was convicted of stalking and sentenced to prison. 

Sveum, 41, argued the tracking violated his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. He argued the device followed him into areas out of public view, such as his garage. 

The court disagreed. The tracking did not violate constitutional protections because the device only gave police information that could have been obtained through visual surveillance, Lundsten wrote. 

Even though the device followed Sveum's car to private places, an officer tracking Sveum could have seen when his car entered or exited a garage, Lundsten reasoned. Attaching the device was not a violation, he wrote, because Sveum's driveway is a public place. 

"We discern no privacy interest protected by the Fourth Amendment that is invaded when police attach a device to the outside of a vehicle, as long as the information obtained is the same as could be gained by the use of other techniques that do not require a warrant," he wrote. 

Although police obtained a warrant in this case, it wasn't needed, he added. 

Larry Dupuis, legal director of the ACLU of Wisconsin, said using GPS to track someone's car goes beyond observing them in public and should require a warrant. 

"The idea that you can go and attach anything you want to somebody else's property without any court supervision, that's wrong," he said. "Without a warrant, they can do this on anybody they want." 

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's office, which argued in favor of the warrantless GPS tracking, praised the ruling but would not elaborate on its use in Wisconsin. 

David Banaszynski, president of the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association, said his department in the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood does not use GPS. But other departments might use it to track drug dealers, burglars and stalkers, he said. 

A state law already requires the Department of Corrections to track the state's most dangerous sex offenders using GPS. The author of that law, Rep. Scott Suder, R-Abbotsford, said the decision shows "GPS tracking is an effective means of protecting public safety." 

It's getting harder and harder to fight City Hall.

Stuff like this concerns me. Police state.

Things seem to be getting out of hand don't they? In a few states now the police are also allowed to draw blood from you without having a nurse present or taking you to the hospital...they will be doing it yourself. This is supposed to be for the purpose of blood alcohol testing...but ....sammieswife.

I may be biased but the use of  GPS to track questionable individual such as stalkers, seems to be a good idea to get hard evidence. Everyone needs to feel safely regardless of where he or she is located or moving to.

Scott77

Sorry, but I don't trust the police. I'm not saying all of them are bad. I don't think giving them this authority is ultimately a good thing.

minimus, your concern is understandable but like what ACLU is urgueing, there is a need to for a court-supervised tracking to avoid police abuses. I think its a good idea. I would not be surprised that some JW elders and Ministerial servants or the R $ F of JW dubs will be pontential arrestees given the way they shamelessly conducts this criminal activity on some members.

Scott77

Interesting isn't it?

We have no problem attaching a GPS unit to someone's car without them knowing about it because they might be a stalker or a whack job or a druggie...yet...we refuse to attach a GPS unit to the body of a rapist or convicted child molester. So if a person is a possible stalker, we attach a GPS to follow him, we end up convicting him and put him in jail..two years later he gets out ..without a device and then goes back to finish up what he may have started.

Insurance companies have been pushing for this for years in order to raise your rates because they will determine what roads are safe and if you travel outside your insured route..

sammieswife.

The courts are overburdened as it is. I think having police or for that matter anyone, putting on a device to follow you is unacceptable if it is done without your knowledge and approval.

Nazi`s!!    ..Invasion of privacy..Altering private property..Spying......................................OUTLAW

The news report says they had a warrant to put the GPS on the car.  There's something I'm not getting. 

Here in Washington state they can put monitor bracelets on people for a variety of reasons, I think its a good idea. 

Elsewhere...

The scriptures say there is a BIG HORN and a little horn on this beast.

The little horn is governments; the BIG horn is religions. The church has always directed the politcal movements.

King James got fed up with church dictating to royalty and authorised the new bible translation in order to have the 'Divine Right of Kings' slipped into the scriptures.

You look at these changes and you think it is the government. Well, yes, it is coming at us from both directions. But we must aim for the BIG HORN in order to stop this madness. If religions crumble, then the political strangulation will resolve itself.

Our politics are shaped by special interest groups and most of them are religious heavies. Groups like the family Research Council, but there are many others as well. They have money, lobbyists, stocks, and push.

Digital Angel technology is the integration and miniaturization into marketable products of 3 technologies---wireless communication (that is, cellular technology), sensors (including biosensors--scan technology) and position location technology (including global positioning systems and other systems).

Guess what...Several pharmaceutical companies (Schering-Plough (usa) Merial (Eu) Dainippon (Japan) are involved in the stock and marketing of these products.

The reason I mention this is because, since all religions own hospitals, you know they are involved in the pharma houses too.

Digital Angel Acquisition Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Medical Advisory Systems, Inc. merged with and into the former Digital Angel Corp. In the merger the corporate existence of Acquisition ceased, the former Digital Angel Corp became a wholly owned subsidiary of Medical Advisory Systems and was renamed "Digital Angel Technology Corp" and Medical Advisory Systems was renamed "Digital Angel Corp."

In connection with the merger transaction, Applied Digital Solution contributed to Medical Advisory Systems all of it's stock in Timely Technology Corp. and Signature Industries. These two subsidiaries, along with the former Digital Angel Corp. comprised the Advanced Wireless Group "AWG".

There was also an earlier merger of DESTRON FEARING (google that!) corp.

My point? The religions own the hospitals and they control all medical ventures and commerce through stock holdings and corporate umbrellas to disguise themselves.

This is still religion controlling politics? WHY?

Because all these years, the churches have robbed the people and now they are losing their control. They need a new tactic...and it is fascism. People have finally seen through religion's use of guilt and superstition in order to take their money. They never clothed the naked nor fed the hungry. They invested in technology and lived the high life.

Realizing that they completely control all medical industry, they will soon decide who is worthy to live or die.

And will Digital Angel be benevolent? Ha. Digital Angel and GPS, etc etc will search out the dissidents and put an end to us because we know too much. We have to be taken out of the way in order for them to keep control on the ones they have left. They have put everything into this plan.

We must stop them and the only way is to educate people about the sham of religions.

Cameo-d said:

Elsewhere...

The scriptures say there is a BIG HORN and a little horn on this beast.

The little horn is governments; the BIG horn is religions. The church has always directed the politcal movements.....

Lol!  This is a beautiful spoof of WT babble.  Thank you for the laugh!

Here's what I'd suggest to counter it.  It will take a bit of cash, but would be well worth it. 

Get your own GPS device.  There are self contained devices that sell for about $300.  They'll track wherever something is at the moment, provide a history, and even record speed while in transit. 

Put one in the private vehicles of the police chief, the DA, and a cop or two. 

After collecting the information for a couple of weeks, post it on a web site, preferably one hosted overseas.  Register the domain with a foreign registrar that will protect your identity. 

You could do all this for a couple of grand.  The response from these hypocrites will be amazing!

Here in Washington state they can put monitor bracelets on people for a variety of reasons, I think its a good idea. 

Would you think it's a good idea if you were required to wear one?  And don't think it couldn't happen to you.  It's impossible to leave the house without breaking some law, and more and more people are being caught up in the system for doing something trivial that happens to be illegal.