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In Boston wil de politietop alle politiewagens uitrusten met een gps-systeem.

Boston police administrators say the system gives dispatchers the ability to see where officers are, rather than wait for a radio response. Using GPS, they say, accelerates their response to a call for a shooting or an armed robbery.
“There are an enormous amount of benefits. . . . This is clearly an important enhancement and should lead to further reductions in crime.”
An officer in trouble is also likely to get help faster if commanders know exactly where he or she is.
“If an officer calls for help, we’ll know the cars that are closest to them.”

Niets uitzonderlijk, behalve dat in Boston heel wat politieagenten hun bedenkingen hebben bij het gps-systeem. Ze vrezen vooral dat ze permanent in het oog zullen worden gehouden en zich voor alles wat ze doen, zullen moeten verantwoorden.

(…) some officers said they worry that under such a system they will have to explain their every move and possibly compromise their ability to court street sources. “No one likes it. Who wants to be followed all over the place?” said one officer who spoke anonymously because department rules forbid police from speaking to the media without authorization. “If I take my cruiser and I meet [reluctant witnesses] to talk, eventually they can follow me and say why were you in a back dark street for 45 minutes? It’s going to open up a can of worms that can’t be closed.”

“Our interest was the scrutiny,” said Joseph Sandulli, a lawyer for the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association. “This thing keeps a permanent record of where an officer is all day. If he stops to go to the bathroom, that stop appears on the screen. If he goes a mile over the speed limit, someone can question that. It’s quite an intrusion on people’s lives.”

Boeiend omdat de discussie in Boston het onmenselijke van gps-tracking en het verzet ertegen nog eens in de verf zet. Maar tegelijk bizar omdat de discussie zich afspeelt bij politiediensten die zelf allerlei technische hoogstandjes inzetten om burgers in het oog houden. Misschien moeten de politieagenten en hun vakbonden zich ook eens kritisch uitspreken over camerabewaking en co. Dat zou de discussie pas echt interessant maken.