I heard of a rumor going around, that there is a program or an actual object (like a radar scanner) that picks up the signal of a police car and locates them on a GPS system. I wanted to know if this rumor was true. And if it is where can I get one?
you could try goggle, that would tell you every thing you need to know. good luck, also do you know what the program is? and yes most police cars and goverment cars, trucks, heavy equpment,laptops the piece of hardware is called a lojack, also there is a thing called a bug tracer, have you never heard of these things?
I have done some research on google and yahoo. But nothing really comes up besides radar scanners and such. I haven't heard of a bug tracer. Thanx for the help.
some facts on GPS Attaching a GPS Locator System to a Car Is It A “Search”? By Andre A. Moenssens Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are being used ever more in our nation and across the world. Law enforcement as well has a strong interest in the use of such devices in order to locate specific vehicles or to conduct surveillances electronically and surreptitiously. But is the use of such devices by police subject to the restrictions imposed on public authority by the Fourth Amendment? In light of the popularity of the devices, it is surprising that the case law dealing with it is sparse. The question asked by the title of this article is difficult to answer with any degree of precision. We have been unable to discover any United States Supreme Court decision that answers the question authoritatively, though a number of the Court's precedents can perhaps be utilized to frame the legal controversy and aid in its exploration. There are a few cases in state and federal trial courts that have been asked to resolve the constitutional issues involved. Unfortunately, these decisions did not necessarily produce a uniform outcome. What's more, the various circumstances in which GPS devices can be used allow for different legal approaches depending on the precise facts of the cases. In this article, we will first explore what GPS is and how it works. We will then examine the constitutional framework in which the problems need to be analyzed, and, thereafter, we will examine some lower court cases that have looked at the specific problem posed. WHAT IS A “GPS”? Many different types of GPS devices have been developed in recent years. A variety of systems are designed to work in different locales and to solve different problems. Reduced to its simplest terms, a GPS is a satellite-based navigation system. Though it has civilian uses, it was developed by the Department of Defense for use by the military. It consists of three different components: a space segment, a control segment, and a user segment. The space segment is comprised of a minimum of 24 geo-synchronous satellites [repeating the same orbital track and configuration over any point on earth in slightly less than 24 hours]. According to the University of Colorado's geography department, the satellites orbit the earth in six orbital planes, with nominally four satellites in each that are equally spaced (60 degrees apart) and are inclined at about 55 degrees with respect to the equatorial plane. At any time, the aggregate of this space segment provides any user with between five and eight satellites visible from any point on earth. These satellites continuously transmit signals from space. The second part of the GPS system is the control segment, the primary of which is located at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado. This master control facility (and other monitoring stations) measure signals coming from the satellites, which are then incorporated into orbital models for each satellite. The stations measure precise orbital data (ephemeris) and determine satellite clock corrections for each satellite, which data is then uploaded (sent back) to the satellites so that they in turn can sent back subsets of the data to GPS receivers by radio signals. The third part of the system is the GPS user segment. GPS receivers convert data received from the satellite systems into position, velocity, and time estimates. Four satellites are required to compute the four dimensions of position and time. Ignoring for our purposes the uses of geo-synchronous satellites in astronomy, in earth's plate tectonic movement studies, and other highly specific scientific research endeavors, we will concentrate primarily on the type of device used for pinpointing the location of vehicles. Depending on the sophistication of a particular GPS receiving device, it may permit pinpointing the location of a particular unit within a few inches in three miles to less specific parameters. [For a more detailed technical explanation of GPS technology, the reader can consult the pages detailing how the system works at the University of Colorado geography department's website at http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/ gps/gps_stoc.html.] Other than to locate vehicles, GPS can also be used in personal tracking by use of the so-called “ankle bracelets” that have become generally known to the public when, after Martha Stewart's trial, conviction and subsequent release on probation, she was required to wear an ankle bracelet so that her location could be automatically determined. Other civil uses of GPS permit municipal engineering departments to use control points established by GPS in a particular municipality to produce maps for utility information, zone information, soil data, and a variety of municipal inspection devices. The satellite system can be coupled with map data contained on a CD-ROM or hard drive. Many newer brands of automobiles today come equipped with a GPS device that will permit the driver to know where he or she is, how to get to a particular address, or how to summon assistance in the case of road emergencies. The navigation system splits the United States into nine regions. There are CD-ROMs available for each region. If the device has not been disabled by thieves, the GPS device is obviously also useful in locating stolen vehicles. Indeed, in some states owners of vehicles equipped with GPS can get a substantial discount on auto insurance rates. The system we are interested in here is that in which GPS is used for automatic vehicle location to permit law enforcement to determine where an automobile to which a device has been attached is located and in which direction it is traveling. If coupled with a GPS logger, a record can also be maintained of where the vehicle has been in the past. http://www.forensic-evidence.com/site/Police/GPS_onCar.html
