Sounds like they're doing it with court-issued warrants with probable cause, so it's not as horrifying as the title makes it sound. It's "secret" to the suspect but it's not like the police department has taken it onto themselves to start a new cellphone tracking program.
Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones
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Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones
#32Chesterfield County, Va. can be generally understood as one of the most, if not the most, pro-cop (densely populated) counties in the whole country. You don’t want to be arrested there Edit: not sure the reason for the downvotes, this fact is useful context and first-hand
Virginia as a whole has some pretty absurdly pro police laws, at least re: driving. The lesser of either 20 over the speed limit or any speed over ~80~ 85 miles an hour (thanks jmisavage) in Virginia is a misdemeanor, and at least one auto journalist has been jailed in Virginia. https://jalopnik.com/never-speed-in-virginia-lessons-from-my... It's also the only state to prohibit radar detectors.
> It's also the only state to prohibit radar detectors
Which is arguably outside of the state’s jurisdiction. Only the FCC has the authority to regulate the airwaves and specifically transmitters and receivers.
I bet that cop’s radar gun has an FCC sticker on it.
Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you elaborate? What does "pro-cop" mean in this geographical context and why do I not want to be arrested here versus somewhere else (assuming I wanted to be arrested)?
Cops get more benefit of the doubt there than anyplace I’ve seen. And the cops, prosecutors and judges are in close coordination.
I see, thanks. I suppose I too live in a pro-cop area then. The police, judges and county attorneys all know each other and work together quite a bit. I know them and they know me.
I suppose the way I handle the situation is to not break the law and not treat them like we inherently have an adversarial relationship. From my perspective, having the local community support first responders is a good thing and works very well for us here.
This is rural Texas, btw.
Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Virginia as a whole has some pretty absurdly pro police laws, at least re: driving. The lesser of either 20 over the speed limit or any speed over ~80~ 85 miles an hour (thanks jmisavage) in Virginia is a misdemeanor, and at least one auto journalist has been jailed in Virginia. https://jalopnik.com/never-speed-in-virginia-lessons-from-my... It's also the only state to prohibit radar detectors.
> Virginia as a whole has some pretty absurdly pro police laws, at least re: driving (Full disclosure: have never driven in the USA), but without wishing to sound like a know-all, how about sticking to the speed limit? I've been dinged exactly twice for speeding since getting my licence almost exactly 30 years ago this month. No points in either case. It's not hard, honest. My wife might disagree, but her licence, he…
A modern car with cruise control, either adaptive or not, will make the task of keeping to the speed limit a breeze.
The only improvement would be that the car always knew the speed limit for any stretch of road.
Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones
#35This is all under a warrant. Of course police can and do get location records from cell companies with a warrant, and it doesn't seem like a huge stretch for a warrant to require the cell company to "ping" to get the most quality location data.
The problem here is the judges granting the warrants.
Judges in Virginia are chosen by legislatures [1], which means they're accountable to political establishment who in turn have good political cover from being responsible for judicial actions.
Judicial oversight and judicial elections are needed.
Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones
#36Could the wireless carriers track phones even if they were carrier unlocked or factory unlocked?
Yes, this functionality is required by law and is done at the chipset firmware level these days. And even before phones supported this, it was done by triangulation at the carriers towers.
Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Virginia as a whole has some pretty absurdly pro police laws, at least re: driving. The lesser of either 20 over the speed limit or any speed over ~80~ 85 miles an hour (thanks jmisavage) in Virginia is a misdemeanor, and at least one auto journalist has been jailed in Virginia. https://jalopnik.com/never-speed-in-virginia-lessons-from-my... It's also the only state to prohibit radar detectors.
Considering the effects of driving at these speeds, I'd say the legal absurdity is the other 49 states not having similar punishments for people who drive at these incredibly dangerous speeds. An enormous amount of people die or acquire permanent, life-altering disabilities at the hands of people who were speeding and crashed.
This kind of absolute thinking is not helpful. The US is a HUGE place. Each location has different driving conditions, types of roads, driving habits etc...
Affluence also factors in significantly both on a community level and personal level.
Driving 80mph through a small town with significant environmental debris on the roads where everyone is driving trucks from the 60s? That should be a felony.
Driving 80mph on a clean, straight highway where everyone is driving a relatively modern car? There should be _no problem_.
Separately, IMO, vehicle should factor in at the judgement level of law enforcement. My car can stop from 60mph in 1g on skidpad, has a full bevvy of features to alert me of surrounding conditions and will intervene in certain dangerous scenarios. The idea that such a vehicle should be equally treated as a 1992 unmaintained civic is ridiculous. Yes, the laws should be consistent in a given area, but the application of those laws should be just not blindly applied. There's clearly a boundary to be crossed, but my car going 10mph over is SIGNIFICANTLY less dangerous to the public than that hoopty going the speed limit.
Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Virginia as a whole has some pretty absurdly pro police laws, at least re: driving. The lesser of either 20 over the speed limit or any speed over ~80~ 85 miles an hour (thanks jmisavage) in Virginia is a misdemeanor, and at least one auto journalist has been jailed in Virginia. https://jalopnik.com/never-speed-in-virginia-lessons-from-my... It's also the only state to prohibit radar detectors.
> Virginia as a whole has some pretty absurdly pro police laws, at least re: driving (Full disclosure: have never driven in the USA), but without wishing to sound like a know-all, how about sticking to the speed limit? I've been dinged exactly twice for speeding since getting my licence almost exactly 30 years ago this month. No points in either case. It's not hard, honest. My wife might disagree, but her licence, he…
> I've been dinged exactly twice for speeding
Not to be a know-all but why not stick to the speed limit?
Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones
#39Sounds like they're doing it with court-issued warrants with probable cause, so it's not as horrifying as the title makes it sound. It's "secret" to the suspect but it's not like the police department has taken it onto themselves to start a new cellphone tracking program.
> with probable cause
It appears to be a lower standard; reasonable suspicion, perhaps.
Re: Virginia police routinely use secret GPS pings to track people’s cell phones
#40> we will use all lawful tools at our disposal Interpreted precisely, this sentence doesn't rule out the possibility that they use unlawful tools too.
It also doesn’t rule out that their favorite flavor of ice cream is chocolate.
But it also is just a statement about something else.