GPS Investigation Dismissed

Supreme Court of Japan stood by human rights rather than state power. The Grand Bench of SCJ found on Wednesday that police investigation using global positioning system device without search warrant was illegal. Even how secret operation was needed for arresting a suspect, the Court denied the power of law enforcement to invade privacy. National Police Agency immediately issued an order to stop GPS investigation after the ruling.

The case was actually a trivial one. Osaka Prefectural Police was chasing a man in an age of 45, who had been repeating thefts in 2013. To watch the activities of him and his accomplices, the police secretly set GPS devices on their nineteen cars and motorbikes and obtained information of their location. The police did not obtained search warrant from judicial court for the operation.

Article 35 of Constitution of Japan determines that “the right of all persons to be secure in their homes and effects against entries, searches and seizures shall not be impaired except upon warrant issues for adequate cause.” Grand Bench realized crime investigation with GPS as “invasion of individual area by public authority through secret attaching of the device for continuous and comprehensive grasp of personal activities.” The Court recognized for the first time the right for not being invaded in individual area.

Criminal Procedure Code prohibits coercive investigation except in specific condition written in the code, which ordinarily requires police to obtain search warrant for investigation. “GPS investigation invades an important legal interest that is guaranteed by the Constitution and is considered as coercive investigation,” ruled the Grand Bench. The judges demanded new legislation, if GPS investigation was really needed.

With prevalence of new technology of crime, investigation of police is actually getting complicated. However, the police easily ignored human rights for privacy in searching criminals. The court warned public authority to expand its power too much.

The government of Japan has been expanding power for secret intrusion into privacy. Wiretapping was allowed with Wiretapping Law for dealing with organized crime in 1999. It is now making an attempt to include de facto crime of conspiracy in Organized Crime Punishment Law. State power keeps on swelling in the name of deterring organized crime or terrorism. The supreme judicial authority warned law enforcement organization ignoring rule of law, the value which Japanese government has been upholding in accusing authoritarian regime such as China.