GPS Used by Divorce Lawyers

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Private detectives and U.S. divorce lawyers have a useful tool used to catch cheating spouses – it’s the GPS (global position system). The cost of cheaper models of GPS these days is less than $1,000. And one of the big advantages of having one is concealing the device in any hiding place, such as a glove compartment of a car, and then tracking the whereabouts of a spouse.

The good news is that you can do this legally. According to a private investigator, Paul Ciolino, “You can sit outside the house for days and nothing can happen. And it gets expensive when you hire someone out there 14 hours a day for $120 an hour and then nothing happens. However, when the GPS says that the car is going to a certain location at 2pm every Thursday, now, you can take a look.”

Last year, results from a survey of divorce lawyers revealed that 88% of them use electronically-obtained information more often than others. Records of computer use, toll-pass data, and GPS are the most common ones. A divorce lawyer, Enrico Mirabelli, also began to use GPS tracking almost a year ago. He says that GPS is more detailed than electronic toll-pass information.

Tags: Divorce, Enrico Mirabelli, GPS, lawyer, lawyers, Paul Ciolino, private detectives
Posted in Divorce, Divorce Lawyer | No Comments »

Tracking Microchips for Criminals

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

Criminal attorneys and human rights advocates are caught up in a debate on how to administer justice to criminals without violating their human rights. They’re all aware of the Bill of Rights (Sixth Amendment) that states: “all those accused in criminal prosecutions shall enjoy the right to a public trial…..and have counsel assistance for his defense.”

However, the justice system is still grappling on what to do with repeat and violent offenders. This led to the suggestion of implanting microchips or radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in convicted criminals. This is in addition to using global positioning system (GPS) tracking devices.

GPS works together with aerial satellites, which are equipped with a receiver and transmitter. During the Cold War, it was invented by U.S. military to mobilize missiles and troops. When it was applied in law enforcement, officers were able to monitor a person’s movement 24 by 7. The subjects wear a removable PTU (personal tracking unit) and a non-removable ankle cuff (wireless) around the size of a huge wristwatch.

So instead of spending time in jail, the criminal attorney may accept a house arrest sentence with a GPS monitoring device. However, this would be an invasion of “the right to privacy and bodily integrity” as stated by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Tags: Bill of Rights, Cold War, criminal attorney, criminal attorneys, GPS, human rights advocates, PTU, RFID, Sixth Amendment
Posted in Criminal, Defense lawyer | No Comments »