Removing GPS Tracker is Legal, Court Says | SnällaBolaget.com
We’ve talked about GPS trackers at length before, and we’ll probably do so again. But what if you find one of those pesky things on your car, and you didn’t put it there? Or something that you don’t even recognize, for that matter? Can you just take it? Remove it? Destroy it?
Chief Justice Loretta Rush of the Indiana Supreme Court says yes, backed by a unanimous court.
Derek Heuring was being tracked by the Warrick County Sheriff’s office, suspected of dealing drugs. When data from the GPS tracker the cops had put on his car stopped, they suspected Heuring had “stolen” the device, and obtained a search warrant on those grounds, finding the device and (inexplicably) some drugs right there along side it… Seem fishy yet?
The Indiana Supreme Court thought so too, and the search warrant has been thrown out on the grounds that you can’t actually “steal” something that’s been affixed to your personal vehicle without your knowledge. Which does indeed seem extremely reasonable, in our opinion.
As the Chief Justice says: “To find a fair probability of unauthorized control here, we would need to conclude the Hoosiers don’t have the authority to remove unknown, unmarked objects from their personal vehicles.”
And, Chief Justice Rush goes on, much to the detriment of the cops’ position: “We find it reckless for an officer-affiant to search a suspect’s home and his father’s barn based on nothing more than a hunch that a crime has been committed.” “We are confident that applying the exclusionary rule here will deter similar reckless conduct in the future.”
Not only does the judge throw the sheriff’s position out, she concludes that they’ve been reckless, and would do well to watch their step in the future. This is good news for anyone looking for a GPS tracker on their car, and even better news for anyone who actually finds one…
Check out more of our information on GPS tracking here.
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