Hampton Roads police assess GPS court ruling

VIRGINIA BEACH

When police stopped a 33-year-old man's car and found 300 grams of cocaine in a hidden back-seat compartment nearly two years ago, it was no coincidence.

Investigators had secretly tracked Angel Alfonso Chirinos-Escala's movements using a GPS device, according to a stipulation of facts from the commonwealth's attorney's office.

With the help of the device, investigators confirmed he had been running cocaine from New York to Virginia.

Late last month, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that police cannot plant GPS devices on suspects to track them without first getting search warrants.

In Virginia, the biggest burden from the ruling doesn't appear to be that a warrant must be obtained. Rather, it's that the search must be conducted within 15 days of when a warrant is issued. That may not be enough time to do a thorough investigation, according to Brent Johnson, chief deputy commonwealth's attorney in Norfolk.

"The problem with the search warrant is it's such a limited amount of time," he said.

While the ruling means an extra set of eyes must review their requests to use GPS technology for tracking, police departments in Hampton Roads said it would have minimal impact.

For law enforcement, GPS has become a popular tool to track suspected drug dealers, burglars and car thieves. But local officers say it's used only in a handful of cases.

"The volume of cases where they're used is few and far between," said Phil Ferguson, commonwealth's attorney for Suffolk. "The bottom line is now, (police) would have to get a search warrant."

Suffolk police Capt. Dean Smith, commanding officer of criminal investigations for the department, said GPS evidence hasn't been the linchpin of any cases there and isn't commonly used.

"The Supreme Court decision doesn't hurt us at all," Smith said. "It just puts another step in our investigation. When we use GPS, we've already got probable cause developing or developed on an individual."

About 18 months ago, Suffolk police used a GPS device to investigate scrap-metal thefts. A device on a suspect's vehicle helped police discover he was also committing burglaries in the Outer Banks.

"We would have never known he was going to the Outer Banks without it," Smith said.

In Chesapeake, police said GPS devices have been used as investigative tools, but they don't expect the extra step of obtaining a search warrant to greatly affect them.

"It would just take a little bit more time for us to secure the search warrant needed," police spokeswoman Kelly O'Sullivan said.

In the Virginia Beach case, Chirinos-Escala pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute a schedule I/II drug, as well as transporting cocaine, Macie Pridgen, a spokeswoman for the commonwealth's attorney's office, wrote in an email. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with four of those years suspended.

Investigators had followed Chirinos-Escala's movements from New York to Virginia Beach because he had been the target of an investigation into drugs flowing in from the north, according to the stipulation of facts in his case. On June 8, 2010, a detective stopped him for failing to signal correctly.

A K-9 pointed to the back of Chirinos-Escala's car. When police searched his blue Acura TSX, they found a hidden hydraulic compartment under the back seat, according to the stipulation of facts. Stashed inside was the cocaine.

In the future, the General Assembly likely will provide more guidance on using GPS in investigations, said Johnson, the chief deputy commonwealth's attorney in Norfolk. The current law may not give police enough time to use the devices effectively

"A search warrant is wholly inadequate," he said. "When these code provisions were written, none of us could have imagined this technology."

Veronica Gonzalez, 757-222-5208, veronica.gonzalez@pilotonline.com