Using Global Positioning Software (GPS) Technology to Investigate Crime Trends
Publication Date: November 2017
This report describes how the Redlands, California Police Department (RPD) used GPS technology to make arrests in pharmacy burglaries, serial armed robberies, construction site theft, vending machine theft, and cemetery theft. In all these cases, GPS devices were attached to items attractive to thieves at stores and sites previously victimized. In all of the case studies presented, the targeted items were stolen, which activated the GPS devices and enabled police officers to track the items to the thieves and make arrests. This strategy has proven to be cost-effective at a time when the RPD was experiencing cuts in law enforcement resources.