Today everyone is aware of the general increase in crime throughout the country and in fact the whole world. In a society where the difference between rich and poor and the impact of the drug culture are both increasing we all realize that this situation is going to get worse before it gets any better.

Therefore all of us know that we all need to do what we can to protect ourselves and our possessions as well as possible as police forces everywhere struggle to combat the ever increasing crime wave.

Recent inventions and developments in science and technology can help us and the police in our combined fight against crime with innovations such as small vehicle tracking devices which can be easily attached to any vehicle.

These small tracker units rely on the Global Satellite Positioning system or GPS to constantly determine their own location, speed and direction of travel.

Over a period of time a GPS tracking device will store all the information on its movements and transmit this to a central computer over a cell or other related network, so that the owner of the device will always know where it is, and therefore the location of the vehicle it is attached to,

Due to technology developments, innovative manufacturing processes and miniaturization techniques GPS vehicle tracking system devices are now small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. They are also self-contained with their own rechargeable long-life batteries and internal antenna so that they need no external wiring.

The latest vehicle tracking units are now truly portable and can be attached to or hidden in a vehicle very quickly and easily. Even you or I could install one in just a couple of minutes!

Once installed monitoring the position and movements of these units is easy. All you have to do is just login to a website provided by the tracking system service provider and you will see maps showing where the unit is now along with historical information on previous locations and timings including speed of travel.

This means it is possible when using a real time GPS tracking system to monitor a tracking device at all times via the Internet from anywhere in the world and wherever in the world your tracking unit goes. This is now a real global service.

GPS tracking systems are not just restricted to vehicles as the portability and size of the tracking devices means that they can hidden in any cargo or assets that you need to keep a watch on and more sophisticated units can even send you an alarm signal when they get moved, as might happen if they are stolen.

Of course, despite their obvious advantages and usefulness these types of devices do raise concerns with anyone interested in civil liberties and the threat that big brother and the nanny state might be taking over.

Although law enforcement departments can attach tracking devices to vehicles for legitimate covert operations, individuals should only attach them to their own vehicles.

However in some states they have been banned altogether, so you should always check before you even think of deploying one, just to see what your responsibilities are. Failure to do so could get you in a lot of trouble!