Eleven years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police need a warrant before they surreptitiously slip a GPS tracking device onto someone’s car.
But who needs a GPS tracking device these days? Police all around the country can track cars through high-definition automated license plate readers mounted alongside roads that do the same job. The license plate readers also are mounted on police cars. The readers record images of license plates and can deftly track vehicles as they pass one license plate reader after another. There’s no need for going through the pesky process of obtaining a warrant.
