A reporter recently interviewed me about in-car GPS navigation systems as evidence. Aside from vehicle tracking devices planted on suspect vehicles, neither of us could point to more than a few matters where GPS evidence played a role in court; yet, its untapped value to criminal and civil cases is enormous. Think how many murders, rapes, burglaries, robberies, thefts, kidnappings and drug deals could be solved — and innocent persons exonerated — by reliably placing suspects in space and time. DNA just puts the accused at the scene. Reliable GPS data puts the suspect there between 9:42 and 10:17 p.m. and reveals where she came from and went next.
GPS-enabled personal travel assistants store both waypoints and typed destinations, distinguishing a suspect who claims coincidental presence from one who entered the address of the crime scene. Some units offer hands-free phone interfaces, recording frequently called numbers and holding unique identifiers for each linked telephone, enabling prosecutors to more persuasively tie the navigation system to a particular user.
