The issue has raised a significant debate over whether police departments should be required to get a warrant before using GPS tracking. While the paper said that few departments commented on their use of the technology, those that did said that it was no different than traditional police surveillance.
"A police officer could do the same thing with his or her own eyes," Arlington Commonwealth's attorney, Richard Trodden, told the Post. "It helps to cut down on the number of police officers who would have to be out tracking particular cars."
Other attorneys have said that the practice is far more detailed, and can be seen as intrusive.
So far, the U.S. Supreme Court has not issued a ruling on whether police need a warrant for GPS tracking devices, and the decisions of lower courts have often conflicted. Judges in Washington State said that police needed a warrant, but rulings in New York, Wisconsin and Maryland said they did not.
