Evidence in cases involving Global Positioning Systems (GPS) can be a vital factor in determining whether someone was in a particular place at a particular time, with the caveat that the information is coming from a device, not a person. Gathering GPS evidence can be a challenge as the data or evidence being sought can reside in several places: on physical devices, at third-party service providers, or as backups or data downloads on computers and smart phones.

When you begin to consider where GPS evidence may reside, the possibilities are on the GPS device itself, as a backup for data download on a computer, in place on a smart phone or pad computer, or as records collected by a third-party monitoring service.

The best-case scenario is to get the evidence from all applicable and available locations. In other words, if the only source is the GPS device itself, getting the device into custody for data collection and analysis is the only thing you can do.

However, if the device is part of a larger system, such as a monitoring system for house arrest, a monitoring system used to collect data in an investigation, or part of a system that is monitored by a third-party service, then getting the device and getting the records are equally important. How GPS works and the types of evidence that can be collected are covered in Chapter 42.

The first thing to understand about GPS tracking as evidence is the wide variety of uses for GPS tracking today. As GPS devices have become available in smaller and more varied packages, they have been adapted to more uses in everyday life. They are no longer only used by private investigators and trucking companies to track vehicles or law enforcement to track persons on house arrest. The following section provides some examples of how GPS tracking is used.

Depending on where the evidence is located, on a GPS device, on a computer or smart phone, or at a third party, the approach to writing the technical language for inclusion in discovery motions varies. In the following sections, language examples are provided for getting evidence from devices and from third parties. In every case, as much information as possible about the device, records, or evidence needs to be requested in order to get a complete picture of the validity of the evidence. Also, when gathering devices for direct collection, requesting all of the pieces is important to avoid having to locate something as simple as a power supply that may prevent the device from being examined until a new power supply can be sourced.

In this chapter we looked at the various types of GPS tracking evidence. We also looked at discovery language that can be used to obtain evidentiary information from third-party monitoring services and device manufacturers. Discovery language for getting the devices for examination was also provided.