GPS Tracking | GPS Surveillance by Private Detectives

GPS (Global Positioning System) is a satellite-based navigation network used for determining positions around the globe. In detective practice, GPS transmitters were for several years widely used throughout the industry, primarily attached to vehicles, enabling investigators to trace a subject’s driving routes conveniently via laptop, smartphone, or later on, tablet. GPS trackers often make surveillance operations considerably easier — reducing the number of investigators required (and thus personnel costs). Movement profiles can even be created without the operator ever leaving the house: once installed on a vehicle, energy-efficient devices with high-quality batteries can operate for up to two months, with location accuracies that usually deviate only a few centimetres to a few metres from the actual position.

Legal pitfalls of GPS surveillance

For a long time, GPS monitoring of target persons — especially by attaching GPS trackers to motor vehicles — was considered a cost-effective and moderately invasive investigative method. However, all practising detectives were aware from the outset that this was a legal grey area.

Courts have since ruled repeatedly (notably the Mannheim Regional Court, judgment of 18 October 2012, file no. 4 KLs 408 Js 27973/08) that the continuous monitoring of target persons by GPS trackers — i.e. the creation of a comprehensive movement profile — constitutes an unjustified intrusion into privacy. The detectives on trial were given heavy fines and suspended sentences, as the court found them guilty of joint intentional unauthorised collection of data for commercial purposes (§ 44 BDSG, § 43 para. 2 no. 1 BDSG).