Virginia Court of Appeals Upholds GPS Tracking of Suspect by Fairfax Police

The Virginia Court of Appeals this week rejected a Fourth Amendment argument made by attorneys for a Fairfax County resident who was convicted of sexual assault. His attorney argued that by secretly attaching to the man's vehicle a GPS tracking device to follow the man's movements, Fairfax police violated the man's Fourth Amendment right to privacy.

Citing the fact that the police concealed the device within the vehicle bumper while it was parked on a public street, the Court reasoned the man had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the vehicle, especially since the police did not enter the vehicle itself, but attached the device at a place where any member of the public could have done so.

This decision follows by a month an almost identical ruling by a federal appeals court in California involving a similar fact pattern.

Virginia criminal defense attorneys are concerned that the court's sanctioning of such police conduct -- without obtaining prior approval of a judge or magistrate -- could impact on the constitutional rights of innocent people to be free to travel where they wish without government snooping.

It is anticipated that the Caifornia decision will be appealed to the United States Supreme Court.