Private Eyes, Stung by Bad Economy, Turn to Gadgets for Edge

DALLAS — Let's say you're a private investigator, and your client wants to get the goods on that philandering spouse.

You could do it the old-fashioned way, trailing him (or her) all over town.

Or, for $695, you could buy a GPS Personal Asset Tracker and hide it under the bumper of the subject's car. Then you could sit back in your office, turn on the computer and, via a secure Web site, get the location of every place Cheatin' Heart goes.

"It works in real time so if they're in a bar or at someone's house, you can show up," said Cody Woods, a private investigator and manager of the Spy Exchange & Security Center in Austin, Texas.

Technology is one of many factors changing the P.I. business, and nowhere was that more evident than at the recent World Investigators Conference in Dallas. Some 600 gumshoes from as far away as Thailand were on hand to learn about the latest gizmos and services for "getting the competitive edge" in a down economy, as one speaker put it.

Read more here and be sure to check out and subscribe to our free weekly newsletter,The Round Up, for more news and upcoming events!

WI Police Need No Warrant to Use GPS to Track Vehicles

Wisconsin police can attach GPS to cars to secretly track anybody's movements without obtaining search warrants, an appeals court ruled Thursday.

However, the District 4 Court of Appeals said it was "more than a little troubled" by that conclusion and asked Wisconsin lawmakers to regulate GPS use to protect against abuse by police and private individuals.

Read more here.

Georgia Bill Would Ban Hidden GPS Tracking Devices

Inside a completely ordinary SUV parked anywhere in Metro Atlanta, private investigator T.J. Ward and his team can track anyone at any time, without them knowing.

Instead of the old cat and mouse game, running red lights and swerving through traffic, he can just stick a little box with a 40-pound magnet to the bottom of a car in seconds. As a person drives, a computer program tracks them via satellite, and prints a list of their whereabouts -- even how fast they were going.

Ward's team has been hired by parents after a bitter child custody case, or a spouse. One man, who was married for 18 years, told us, "We used it for several weeks, just tracking where my wife's vehicle was, and just to confirm some suspicions I had."

His suspicions were right, and he's now divorced. He credits the GPS surveillance with saving him millions of dollars in alimony.

Read more at wsbtv.com.