[CamperBob]

This issue really is black and white, crystal clear, and very simple. I don't understand all of the legalistic bloviating. It all comes down to one question: What happens to me, a private citizen, if I plant a GPS tracker on a police car?

If the answer is anything other than "nothing," then brand-new police powers are being spun from whole cloth by this (lack of) ruling.

[micks56]

Your last sentence is very loaded.

1. This case wasn't a ruling, nor is it a lack of ruling. It was an instance of a court refusing to re-litigate existing law. That means that it already ruled and does not feel that the law should be changed. Nothing happened here. No new powers can be created by not ruling. By definition nothing happens when refusing to hear a case.

2. Second reason no new powers were created: The 4th Amendment to the US Constitution protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. The 9th Circuit has interpreted GPS to not be an unreasonable search and seizure. Therefore the restriction on government never existed because the Constitution does not protect people against reasonable searches. The police power to install GPS devices on cars was not abolished when the 4th Amendment went into effect 220 years ago. No new powers because the power existed 220 years ago.

[CamperBob]

Great. So, as an attorney, you're saying that I won't be charged with anything at all, if caught planting tracking devices on police vehicles....? There is definitely a new business opportunity there.

[micks56]

No, and this is important.

1. I am not an attorney. I am not your attorney.

2. I am not giving out legal advice, and nothing that I have said is even considered legal advice.

3. I have no idea what the law is in your jurisdiction because I do not know what jurisdiction you live in, and I most likely do not even know the law in your jurisdiction. There may be statutes specifically proscribing the conduct you describe. You need to research that yourself.

4. Nothing I wrote implies a person won't be charged with placing devices on police vehicles. I only commented on laws pertaining to police placing GPS devices on cars in open driveways in California through August 25, 2010.

[count]

More importantly, depending on the USE of the devices (I assume for tracking the movements of police cars), you might be nailed for obstruction or something other than 'trespass'.

The argument can be made that you can simply follow the police cars around and see them on public streets when they pull out of the police HQ - but that may be considered harassment or some other crime.