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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| GPS helps nab bank robbers |
| 2004-02-07 |
| Guess the exploding dye pack is passé. Edited for brevity. A male bank-robbery suspect and his crafty female accomplice were nabbed by law-enforcement authorities yesterday in Montgomery County [PA] with the help of a satellite tracking device, sources say. The female sidekick almost got away with the loot - she was hiding in an Lower Providence Arby’s restroom with the black-zippered booty - but an alert restaurant employee tipped off authorities, sources say. "Crafty"? So she likes macramé? Earlier, the male suspect entered the National Penn Bank, on Main Street in Royersford, and handed the teller a "threatening note" demanding money, said FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi. He then fled the bank and boarded the SEPTA Route 99 bus headed to Norristown, sources said. Authorities followed the money with the help of a global-positioning system, or a GPS, which had been placed in the bag by the bank teller, sources said. When Royersford police pulled over the bus on Egypt Road in Lower Providence, the device stopped moving - meaning it was on board, sources said. Nice as the story is, it would seem pretty easy to block out reception of GPS signals and render the device useless. The GPS signals don’t penetrate indoors or even inside vehicles that well without an external antenna. That’s also why I think those GPS bracelets they’re marketing to help track children won’t work in malls, arenas, etc. |
| Posted by:Dar |
| #1 Bank robbers never seem to look in the bag. They're not too smart, you see. But the marketing of GPS tattletales for kids won't stop...mom likes reloading her browser window once a minute to see where her precious darlings are. Maybe even institute a new house rule, you must go outside once every 30 minutes to let the signal lock on so mom can see where you are while she watches the home remodeling channel. |
| Posted by: gromky 2004-2-7 5:44:06 PM |