Supreme Court to tackle GPS
devices; use wisely as a police tool

__  By Harold Love
  Hawknews Writer
     An important issue facing the Supreme Court this year is whether or not GPS tracking devices should be put on vehicles without a warrant. This issue focuses on the 4th Amendment which protects against unwarranted search and seizure.

     A police force in Washington D.C. put a GPS tracking device on a suspected drug dealer’s vehicle in 2004. They did this without a warrant. The Supreme Court will decide if this is constitutional.

The issue is whether or not police should require a warrant before putting a GPS tracking device on a suspect’s vehicle and how long should this time period be. Does this violate the fourth amendment? I support it only in certain circumstance or to a certain extent. For example, if the police suspect criminal activity, they should be able to put GPS tracking devices on a vehicle to help determine if the suspects are breaking the law. I would not limit the time period, because their illegal activity might be spread over a longer period of time. For example if a drug dealer brings drugs from Mexico to the US and chooses to hide in a small town like Coldfoot, Alaska, and then has other dealers from larger cities like Anchorage or Fairbanks come to Coldfoot to pick up the illegal products, this would be a good situation for police in Alaska to find the drug source by tracking the dealer’s vehicles. “This is a low cost device that would allow the FBI or any law enforcement agency to gather a great deal of information about their movements without having to go to a judge and justify their investigation,” Criminologist Pat Rowan said.

     I feel it's important to not limit the time period that the GPS tracking devices could be used. For example, if a female college student goes missing at UAA, and they have a suspect, they can track him or her for an unlimited period of time, because of the length of time between the crimes.

I oppose the use of GPS tracking devices in the following situations: they shouldn’t be directed at a certain age or if the suspect is crazy. They also don’t need them if a person stole a candy bar from a little a store, and if a person parks in a wrong stop. 

I don’t support the use of GPS tracking device on people who have not broken the law or done drugs.

GPS tracking devices make sense to use on drug kingpins because they are the main source of crime. If we stop the kingpins, crime will decrease. This is why I think police shouldn’t need a warrant to put a GPS tracking device on a suspect’s vehicle. Let’s make it a goal to keep the drugs, the kingpin's and the other criminals off the streets. Let’s veer slowly back to right path; let’s make this world a better place. Let’s stop the crime from hemorrhaging.

Harold Love pretends to place a GPS tracking device on a Kenny Lake vehicle. You get the point.