While fitness trackers are helping you stay in shape, they’re also helping law enforcement solve cases.
Police have started to use fitness trackers from companies such as Fitbit, Garmin and Jawbone, in court rooms as evidence. A case in Lancaster, Pa. last June used a Fitbit to prove that a woman was lying about being sexually assaulted.
Nina Risley, from St. Petersburg, Fla., traveled to Pennsylvania and was staying at her boss’ home when she called police to report that she was pulled out of bed and raped. Police then used her Fitbit Surge to reveal that she was awake and walking around the entire night. Risley was charged with making a false report and tampering with evidence.
Police enforcement and legal experts have started to recognize wearable devices as the human body’s “black box.” It traces all sorts of data including steps, sleeping habits and sometimes even location with GPS sensors.
“When we have technology like Fitbit we’re going to take advantage of that,” Craig Stedman, Lancaster county district attorney, told The Today Show in an interview. “We’re going to have to adapt and use that to help us do our jobs.”
Another recent case that used a Fitbit as court evidence involved a Canadian woman in a personal injury lawsuit. The woman used her fitness tracker to defend her request for compensation and show that her physical activity was affected following a car accident.
Fitness trackers, and other smart devices such as smartwatches, are bound to join the long list of technology used in litigation. The most recent was the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, which took Apple and the FBI to court.
