Supreme Court's GPS ruling has little impact locally

A new Supreme Court ruling requiring law enforcement investigators to obtain a search warrant before using global positioning systems to track suspects doesn't appear to have much local effect.

Many agencies such as the Marysville Police Department have been ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court for several years already, Sgt. Chris Sachs said.

"We have usually gotten a search warrant beforehand, in most cases where (GPS) has been used," Sachs said Monday.

The ruling adds another layer of bureaucracy for detectives to keep tabs on suspected criminals, but is not expected to have any significant impacts on investigations.

Officials in Yuba, Sutter and Colusa counties all said GPS tracking is rarely used.

Colusa sheriff's Lt. Shane Maxey said while the new requirement will not be difficult for law enforcement to meet, it seems to create some inconsistencies over when and how police can track and follow suspects.

"We can still follow a person without a warrant if we have investigators physically watching somebody, but now we need a warrant to let a GPS device do the same thing," Maxey said.

While GPS tracking is rare locally, it has been used effectively in a few high profile cases in recent years.

Most notably, Colusa sheriff's deputies used GPS devices in late 2008 to track the movements of a suspected armed robber from College City who was eventually convicted, in part, on the GPS evidence linking him to a string of gas station robberies in Colusa and Yolo counties. Yuba City Assistant Police Chief Jeff Webster said such electronic tracking has only been used to track "more heinous crimes" and agreed the new requirements only add minor layers of paperwork.

"As police, we write search warrants all the time," Webster said. "I don't see it being a huge issue for us."

CONTACT Rob Parsons at rparsons@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4785. Find him on Facebook at /ADcrimebeat or on Twitter at @ADcrimebeat.