44.493
Issues in Criminal Justice Technology & Security
Case study: GPS (continued)
as with many of our other technologies, originally developed for
military navigation use.
How CJ system uses GPS:
- Navigational tool:
some units can get exact location of their aviation units, so
they can tell estimated time arrival, the exact location of events
they are observing on the ground (so they can direct personnel
to the location). In ground locations, especially large jurisdictions,
they can substitute for maps. They can tell if they are close
to jurisdictional boundaries, or navigate outside normal area
in a mutual aid call.
- officer safety:
can pinpoint an officer making distress call.
- "bait car" auto theft
stings
ATX
Technologies equipped "bait car" with a GPS that
relayed information about the vehicle's location to a remote
unit, made it easy to make an arrest. Company says it led to
a 60% reduction in auto thefts in only a month. Could also use
it for sting operations to catch those stealing heavy construction
equipment.
- reporting
Texas Department of Public Safety requires accident reports record
location by GPS.
- reducing police corruption
police force in
Mexico uses it to reduce problem of corrupt police extorting
drivers
- Tracking
parolees, those on bail, and political detainees
--primary source,
"Technology
in Policing"
Issues
- Is there a fundamental right to "locational
privacy" that GPS violates?
"the decreasing cost (and increasing
sophistication) of geolocation technologies is being used to
leverage traditional data profiling of individuals and other
entities.
Locational privacy is particularly challenging because much
debate about privacy has traditionally been characterized in
terms of who you are or what you are doing rather than where
you are (and where you have been or where you are going).
'Place' and movement become important with developments such
as
- m-commerce systems (retailers or other providers
of goods/services are alerted to your proximity through your
mobile phone, PDA or other device and accordingly send you an
email, SMS or voice message)
- security systems (collars, bracelets,
anklets or even subcutaneous radio-frequency ID tags - RFIDs
- enable real-time tracking of pets, children, aged relatives
or your local sex offender)
- traffic management systems (offering
automated payment of tolls or identification of infringements
for travel on some roads and urban areas)
- content management systems (preventing
access to content per se or enabling differential charging
for access to online music, news, video and other content)
- ongoing declines in the cost
of tools such as mobile phones, RFIDs and global positioning
system (GPS) hardware and software
- the emergence of ambitious traveler
monitoring/screening initiatives such as the US Secure Flight
program, drawing on passport
and commercial travel information"
- Use of GPS in surveillance
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