Stalkers find a new tool: satellites

GPS devices, now readily available, used in several cases

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MILWAUKEE, Feb. 6 — Connie Adams found it impossible to escape her ex-boyfriend. He would follow her as she drove to work or ran errands. He would inexplicably pull up next to her at stoplights and once tried to run her off the highway, authorities said.

WHEN HE showed up at a bar she was visiting for the first time, on a date, Adams began to suspect Paul Seidler wasn't operating on instinct alone.

“He told me no matter where I went or what I did, he would know where I was,” Adams testified at a recent court hearing.

Kenosha police said Seidler had installed a satellite tracking device in her car that allowed him to pinpoint her every move.

Police say Adams' case and several others across the country herald an incipient danger: high-tech stalking. The advent of global positioning technology has made such devices readily available to the public, but more people are abusing it.

“As technology advances, it's going to be almost impossible for victims to flee and get to safety,” said Cindy Southworth, director of technology at the National Network to End Domestic Violence in Washington.

[Now there's a comforting thot!... ]

Police say Seidler put a global positioning tracking device between the radiator and grill of Adams' car. Such gadgets use a constellation of satellites to pinpoint location and can send their coordinates to cell phones or computers.

Trucking companies use GPS systems to track hazardous cargo and monitor drivers. Corrections authorities use them to monitor sex offenders. Hikers, boaters and motorists use GPS devices to keep from getting lost. The technology is also being built into cell phones to help emergency dispatchers find 911 callers. They're also being used to prevent car theft.

[How sickeningly ironic! We use technology to monitor sex offenders, and they use that same technology to monitor us! ]


In the Adams case, Seidler pleaded innocent last month to felony counts of stalking, recklessly endangering safety, burglary and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. His trial is pending.

Southworth trains victims advocates, law enforcement and prosecutors on stalkers' use of the technology, which she says is only just beginning to be abused.

[Yet another happy thot to think...

The Stalking Resource Center at the National Center for Victims of Crime has found at least one other case of a GPS system being used to stalk a victim.

In it, a Colorado appeals court in July upheld Robert Sullivan's conviction for stalking his ex-wife and installing a GPS device in her car to track her movements.

[Well, at least maybe that's the beginning of a good trend...]

CHECKING THE TECHNOLOGY

GPS is not the first technology to be misused by stalkers, who have also employed the Internet, microchip-sized cameras and even caller identification, said Southworth, though it is the most dangerous to date.

Just as she once taught victims how to block caller ID when they use the phone, Southworth now suggests victims occasionally check under the hood of their car.

[Soon we'll be spending so much time checking & trying to be safe that we won't have the time or energy to actually do anything or go anywhere... ]

Tracy Bahm, the Stalking Resource Center's director, said some states are working to update their stalking statutes to include the high-tech variety.

The center typically advises states to keep their statutes broad enough to include technologies that don't yet exist.

“As society and technology evolve, stalkers will always find new ways to harass their victims,” Bahm said.

[Surely we can find some better ways for these people to channel all that extra time, ambition & creativity they seem to have.]

OK, any suggestions?



Legal ones?...

Victor

I am in no way wanting to minimize the frightening reality of this situation -- Victor I worked in busting drug houses & dealers for a few years -- the one and biggest hurdle we have always had to over come was the fact that the OFFENDERS always seemed to be able to out technology us. Money & resources we couldnt access --- I always said in mtgs if we could some how get those who were using what was obvious intelligence & creativity for the POSITIVE rather than the negative we may well have some of the best persons doing good in our society.
Scarey at best --- and still leaves the age old question of WHY would one choose to expend energy to negative use rather than positive use.... but then again THATS a whole area I simply couldnt begin to identify with (insert sarcasm) -- AND then it could lead me to push Limbaugh out of his job too ~ Better Days , Wifey1

Wow Wifey1 that musta been tough work. Thanks for your example & encouragement. It is kinda scary to know how easily perps can track & trick people with all this technology. We've got to be able to out-tech them...

Victor

Victor,
not only did we need to out tech them -- we had to BECOME them to learn the who whats wheres and whys.
and here i go a bit off original topic , but i think that the core of understanding sexual perpetrators is to "think like one" --- how did I learn to bust the bad guys? To begin to think like one -- always always it came down to a social issue/S cause that taught them to USE OPPORTUNITY to commit the crimes.
When we found out the social issues these drug dlrs were often surviving with , we tried to address those issues (often exploited them also for more info) we could then try to impact the out come of re offending. Of course we never had any garuntees , again I am not in any way defending our Perps or anyones perps... I just see the complexity of this on so many levels.
So perhaps one of my questions to my political leaders should be -- How we could "exploit" the perp for info on how or why the chose the opportunity to commit the acts of molestation?
**I remember in one of my crayola wing experiences I was placed in we had perps on the floor with us & in our T groups etc... One perp I remember in particular was a survivor himself, while I never understood his sexual abusing his kids as he was a survivor of multiple family incest himself -- I did learn from him for my own personal self a small glimpse into my own multiple perps. Another perp on the floor was a young man who had sustained a fairly severe head injury & only began to perp AFTER his head injury -- he was according to the info shared a perfectly normal functioning (what ever the hell that means) person prior to his head injury.**
So perhaps another question I have now is -- does anyone know what the percentages are for perps to be SA survivors themselves? Or is it a crap shoot? 50 / 50??
AND another question -- is there a higher risk of being a perp due to financial status in our society? Are perps who are less financially stable more likely to be caught, convicted ? Or even more less likely to be able to maintain or gain T & help PRIOR to offending?
Well, now yet again I have created more questions than real meaningful conversation ---
Just Thoughts ~ Wifey1