INDIANAPOLIS — State legislators have filed multiple bills that would make tracking someone with a GPS device without their knowledge a crime in Indiana. The legislation is motivated by escalating cases of stalking and domestic violence using tracking devices like Apple AirTags.
Senate Bill 161 would create the crime of remote criminal tracking for tracking someone without their knowledge. The penalty would be increased from a Class C misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor if the tracking occurred under a protective order. The sentence could be enhanced for someone convicted of using a tracking device when committing a felony.
"Without something actually written down in law, anybody that chooses to use them, really there are no guidelines,” said State Sen. Michael Crider, R-Greenfield, a co-author of the bill.
Gaylyn Morris admitted to police in court records that she put an AirTag in her boyfriend's car last summer, tracked him to a pub on the northeast side of Indianapolis, caught him cheating, and ran over him with her car, killing him. Morris is in jail awaiting a jury trial March 6.
"If the device is used to track somebody down in one of those heated, passionate-type situations, the outcomes are pretty dramatic and then drastic for the person that's the victim of that situation,” said Crider. "And so, we need to provide a layer of protection."
Exceptions under the proposed legislation allow for parents tracking a child, tracking personal and business property (so long as it doesn’t violate a protective order), and court ordered monitoring and lawful police work.
We'll be tracking the bill’s progress in the Indiana Senate. SB 83 has been referred to the Committee on Corrections and Criminal Law, but is not yet scheduled for a hearing.
George Gergis, chairperson of the board for the Indiana Society of Professional Investigators, provided a statement on potential legislation:
“Please note that in many circumstances of civil law, and even criminal law, private sector investigators play key roles in facilitating justice in the American justice system, assisting with honest ethical commerce by businesses and assisting individuals to handle personal affairs with the individual and private manner entitled to each individual citizen.
Regarding GPS and tracking devices, the typical professional investigator doesn’t utilize GPS devices as frequent as some may think, and when they are used, they are used for the protection of property, protection of life, and the furtherance of justice.
As professional investigators we don’t necessarily oppose any restrictions or legislation regarding tracking devices but are worried about collateral consequences any new tracking laws may have to the profession, and how those laws would hinder the collection of evidence to further justice and the protection of life and property. It is a good idea not to allow bad guys to use tracking devises, but bad guys will use them no matter what the laws are. We have to be careful not to hinder the good guys from using them.”