In the first decision of its kind, the Osaka District Court has rejected GPS evidence in a criminal trial on grounds that the police failed to first obtain a court warrant before using GPS devices to track the defendant's movement, and thus violated his privacy rights. The Criminal Procedure Law has no provisions on the use of GPS in investigations. The government should establish a clear procedure for its use in criminal probes to avoid violating suspects' privacy rights.
The trial involves a 43-year-old man who was arrested in December 2013 on suspicion that he stole automobiles and other goods, mainly in the Kansai region. The police's use of GPS in their probe came to light when the suspect told his lawyer that he had found a GPS tracking device attached to the underside of his car. The Osaka police admitted during the trial — for which a ruling is expected next month — that investigators attached 16 GPS tracking devices on 19 vehicles used by the suspect and his colleagues. The investigation continued for about half a year.
The prosecution defended their investigation method by saying that the GPS tracking devices were used as an auxiliary tool in their stake outs, that the system only disclosed approximate locations and that it did not track the suspect around the clock. But presiding judge Takaaki Nagase rejected the prosecution's argument, saying that since GPS has a high degree of accuracy and enables the police to follow their targets even when investigators have lost sight of them, the GPS-based probe was different in nature from those in which investigators physically trail the suspect.