By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Apparently GPS isn’t just for the geographically challenged anymore.
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that police were able to track down three bank robbers in suburban Chicago last week, thanks to a credit-card sized GPS device that had been stuffed in with the stolen cash.
The paper, referring to an FBI affidavit, said the GPS led police almost instantly to the robbers in Dolton, Ill.
The Trib reported that the FBI and banking officials said “they believed it was the first time the technology — similar to what is increasingly used in cell phones and other devices — had been deployed to solve a bank robbery in the Chicago region. The FBI did use a GPS device last year to help free a man being held for $40,000 ransom, placing it in a bag of money tracked to a South Side home.”
Debbie Jemison, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Bankers Association, told the paper that banks started using the device about two years ago, but is unclear how widespread it’s use is.
