Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 March 2019
On April 12, 2005, the Bundesverfassunsgreicht (German Federal Constitutional Court) ruled that regulations in the Strafprozessordnung (StPO – Code of Criminal Procedure) concerning police use of global positioning systems (GPS) did not violate the Grundgesetz (GG – German Constitution or Basic Law) so long as the investigators did not use the technology in conjunction with other surveillance methods that could lead to the construction of a personality profile of the suspect observed. The following comment examines the facts of the case and evaluates the Court's decision in detail.
1 BVerfG, 2 BvR 581/01 from April 12, 2005, available at http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20050412_2bvr058101.html.Google Scholar
2 For an English version, see http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/StPO.htm.Google Scholar
3 For an English version, see http://www.bundestag.de/htdocs_e/info/gg.pdf.Google Scholar
4 Gesetz zur Bekämpfung des illegalen Rauschgifthandels und anderer Erscheinungsformen der Organisierten Kriminalität, of July 15, 1992 (BGBl. I S. 1302).Google Scholar
5 § 100c StPO.Google Scholar
6 § 100c StPO (1)1a.Google Scholar
7 § 100c StPO (1)1b.Google Scholar
8 § 100c StPO (1)1b.Google Scholar
9 § 100c StPO (1)3.Google Scholar
10 See § 163f StPO.Google Scholar
11 § 163f StPO (1)1-2.Google Scholar
12 § 163f StPO (3).Google Scholar
13 § 163f StPO.(4).Google Scholar
14 BVerfG, 2 BvR 581/01 from April 12, 2005, para. 27-29, available at http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20050412_2bvr058101.html.Google Scholar
15 Id. at para. 14.Google Scholar
16 Id. at para. 15.Google Scholar
17 Grundgesetz [Constitution] art. 1, para. 1.Google Scholar
18 Killean, James J., Der Große Lauschangriff: Germany Brings Home the War on Organized Crime, 23 Hastings Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 173, 186 (2000).Google Scholar
19 Grundgesetz [Constitution] art. 2, para. 1.Google Scholar
20 Grundgesetz [Constitution] art. 2, para. 2.Google Scholar
21 See Killean, supra note 18, at 189.Google Scholar
22 See Donald P. Kommers, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany 314 (2d ed. 1997); Killean, supra note 18, at 189.Google Scholar
23 BGH, Juristen Zeitung [JZ], 56 (2001), 1144.Google Scholar
24 Id. See BVerfG, 2 BvR 581/01 from April 12, 2005, para. 23-26, available at http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20050412_2bvr058101.html.Google Scholar
25 BVerfG, 2 BvR 581/01 from April 12, 2005, available at http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20050412_2bvr058101.html.Google Scholar
26 Id. at para. 56.Google Scholar
27 Id. at para. 53.Google Scholar
28 Id. at para. 51.Google Scholar
29 Id. at para. 51.Google Scholar
30 Id. at para. 60.Google Scholar
31 Id. at para. 16.Google Scholar
32 Id. at para. 67.Google Scholar
33 Id. at para. 67.Google Scholar
34 Id. at para. 62.Google Scholar
35 Id. at para. 62.Google Scholar
36 Id. at para. 62.Google Scholar
37 Id. at para. 63.Google Scholar
38 Id. at para. 64.Google Scholar
39 BVerfGE 65, 1 at para. 154 (translation from Kommers, supra note 22, at 324).Google Scholar
40 Volkszählungsgesetz 1983 (VoZählG 1983) of March 25, 1982 (BGBl. I S. 369), § 9 Abs. 2-3.Google Scholar
41 BVerfGE 65, 1 at para. 210-212.Google Scholar
42 Id. at para. 102, 104 (translation from Kommers, supra note 22 at 324).Google Scholar
43 Id. at para. 102 (translation from Kommers, supra note 22, at 324).Google Scholar
44 Id. at para. 156-157 (translation from Kommers, supra note 22, at 324).Google Scholar
45 BVerfG, 1 BvR 2378/98 from March 3, 2004, para. 119-120, available at http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rs20040303_1bvr237898.html Google Scholar
46 Id. at para. 120.Google Scholar
47 Id. at para. 54.Google Scholar
48 Id. at para.148.Google Scholar
49 See Hörbst, Günther, Auch als Wanze – wie GPS den Standort verrät, Hamburger Abendblatt (April 12, 2005), available at http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2005/04/13/420970.html; Christian Rath, Polizei darf per Satellit schnüffeln, Die Tageszeitung (April 13, 2005), available at http://www.taz.de/pt/2005/04/13/a0104.nf/text.ges,1.Google Scholar
50 See Gebauer, Mattias, Das Arsenal der High-Tech Polizistin, Spiegel Online (April 12, 2005), at http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,350921,00.html; Kay-Alexander Scholz, Überwachung per Handy ist viel bequemer, Deutsche Welle Online (April 12, 2005), at http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1550210,00.html. Cf. Jim McKay, Nowhere to Hide, Government Technology (June 2004) (discussing the development and use of location technology by law enforcement officials in the United States).Google Scholar
51 See id.Google Scholar