Police struggle to locate suspicious vehicles as cheap GPS trackers fail

Belgian police have lost control of several dozen GPS trackers that were being used in criminal investigations.

The equipment, which is old, was purchased at a low price from a Chinese manufacturer, RTBF reports.

Connections have become lost or unstable in the last two weeks but federal police insist future operations are not at risk.

“The number of trackers affected represents only a fraction of the trackers available and technical solutions are being implemented to replace the defective equipment,” the police said.

It was in mid-August that the Belgian police first lost contact with GPS trackers that had been discreetly installed on suspects’ vehicles in order to monitor their movements.

This was a setback for some investigators from the federal judicial police and local police forces working on ongoing cases, such as drug trafficking. Trackers are one of the special investigative methods used in complex investigations under the supervision of the judicial authorities.

The several dozen out-of-service trackers represent a significant proportion of the equipment, which the police refuse to quantify publicly while downplaying the inconvenience caused.

Police say that since they have “a large number of trackers of different types” and “technical solutions are being implemented to replace the faulty equipment, at this stage, future operational support is not affected.”

In the short term, the failures are being mitigated by installing new GPS trackers on the vehicles under surveillance. Investigators can also use other, less effective techniques, such as ANPR number plate recognition cameras or other surveillance cameras.

“In the current situation, our teams are carrying out the necessary checks to determine the cause of the incident and have taken all the necessary measures to manage the consequences,” the federal police said in a statement.

“The occurrence of occasional technical incidents is inherent in the operation of technological devices. The police services are constantly seeking to reduce this risk and provide a stable, high-quality service.”

In some cases, the use of GPS trackers greatly simplifies the discreet surveillance of suspects and, in some cases, their illegal cargo.

This method allows movements to be tracked remotely and accurately without deploying a whole surveillance team. In comparison, close human surveillance requires significant resources and, in certain cases, carries a high risk of being detected.

Gradually introduced into the arsenal of law enforcement agencies in the 1990s and initially used by a small circle of experts in special units, GPS trackers have since spread to many federal and even local units who are convinced of the added value of this technology.

Faced with increasing demand for equipment, police decided to turn to inexpensive and readily available Chinese trackers, despite criticisms regarding espionage risks.

At the same time, special units continued to use high-tech GPS trackers in the most sensitive cases, primarily when the physical integrity of individuals was threatened.