With the recent death of OJ Simpson, we are reminded of the police pursuit of OJ’s Bronco through Los Angeles and Orange Counties. While the OJ chase was a slow-speed chase, many police pursuits are high speed and dangerous. Some of these chases have ended in fatalities. Because they are so dangerous, police often terminate the pursuit in the interests of public safety. Fortunately, high speed chases will soon be a thing of the past.
In a marriage of low tech and high tech, police cruisers are being fitted with GPS launchers. The launchers, mounted to the front of police vehicles, hold GPS darts that when deployed stick to the target vehicle. The police need to chase a vehicle only long enough to be within range to deploy the dart. The dart is fired using laser assist. The dart’s sticky substance allows the dart to stick even if the target vehicle is wet or dirty. Once the dart sticks to the evading vehicle, the police can track the vehicle’s movements and location. Currently the use of the darts is somewhat hampered because they have a limited range (about 20 to 30 feet).
Is this a violation of the Fourth Amendment warrantless search and seizure prohibitions? In 2012, the United States Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement serendipitously placing a GPS tracking device on a vehicle without a warrant was an unlawful search under the Fourth Amendment.
