GPSyndrome

Today was one of those oh so special days. A day of Warrant Service. I could spend a lot of time on multiple aspects of the events that occurred today. But, I will keep it to the point of the title. First, I believe I have to explain a little about what generally happens during a warrant service day.

When I was a Local Deputy warrant service meant (for the most part) happening across a Crack Head with a couple of active warrants. It could also mean actively going to an address where a person with a warrant lives. Usually we would take one or two Deputies, unless we thought things could get unruly.

Where I work now, it is a whole different shooting match. When we do a warrant team, we have a lot more Agents and information about the Criminal in question. This last part would be due to our constant contact with them and the area in which they live. You would be surprised by the amount of times that a little bit of information about a person, their family, and the layout of the house can save lives and heart ache.

Now, the team I generally go out with was put out of commission as of June 15, 2009. The day of the wreck (see Blog #1). So, in order to go out on a warrant service I had to go in an empty slot on another team. A team I am less familiar with and thus put me a little out of sorts.

When we started off the day, we got our car seating assignments. Being the new guy on the team I was chosen to be the one to drive the lead car. I went to the car got in along with my navigator/side seat driver. He then puts this thing on the dash. I recognized it an older model GPS and he automatically turns it to where he can see it. That is perfectly okay (as long as he relays the information).

I hear over the radio that we are ready to go and the navigator pushes a few buttons on the GPS and I hear, "Drive to the highlighted route." I await further instructions from the human navigator (due to the fact that I cannot see the screen) and receive none. I then lean over enough to where I can see the screen. Still no help. All I see on the screen is a small green arrow in the midst of a brown field. Apparently, a GPS is only great when A) your moving, and B) your actually on a road. If you have a road map GPS in the middle of a giant parking lot (like were we work), not so great for getting you out of said lot.

I roll my eyes and get back on my side of the car. I ask, "So....where should I head?" Then as if in answer, "Drive to the highlighted route," comes from the GPS again. My navigator then chuckled, pointed straight ahead, and said, "That way." Once we got closer to the road (and moving) I could see the "Highlighted route."

The rest of the day went more smoothly (as far as the GPS is concerned). For the most part we reached our desired location with minimal interference. The only exceptions would be the odd road that the GPS would believe to be there, but when we would get near where the road should be, there would be nothing but a whole lot of forest.

However, as the day wore on and I listened to the little computer prattle on, something was happening to my brain. I was becoming dependent upon the GPS. I have lived in my jurisdiction my entire life. I learned to drive on these streets, and worked on these streets. I may get lost (a lot) with my little map book, but I generally know where I am going. With the GPS telling me where to go the entire day that part of my brain shut down. This is what I like to call GPS syndrome.

As an example from today, when we decided where we were to eat, my navigator punched in the address of the restaurant and off we went. Now, this restaurant is on a road that I can find from most anywhere....except from where we were. It was a part of the jurisdiction that I have never been. As we drove to more familiar territory I should have been able to pick up on the way to go. However, I found myself still hanging on every single, "Turn right/left in 500 feet." I did not realize this until we reached the Interstate (still on the highlighted and correct route) and I found myself asking how many miles we had to go until the desired exit.

This is a dumb question because A) I know what exit we were going to, and B) I knew what what exit we were at. Therefore, I should have known how many miles we had to go, but I had become dependent upon the GPS (in only a few short hours).

Now, the phenomenon is not an isolated incident. On March 22, 2009 a man in Yorkshire, England nearly drove off a cliff while simply following the directions of his GPS. October 25, 2008 a Polish man in Australia drove into a lake while following the directions given by his GPS. Here, recently a woman drove off an embankment and into a local pond, because her GPS told her to. I am sure that there are many, many more.

So, a word to my fellow Officers and Gunslingers out there, get your head out of the GPS every once in a while. Some computers might be able to calculate things faster, find routes faster, and bring up long lost information faster, but nothing out thinks the Human brain. Do not become so dependent upon your GPS that you cannot find your way out of a situation if the proverbial fecal matter hits the fan. I cannot imagine having to wait on that thing to find a satellite and calculate a route for me to get out of the line of fire.

Semper Fi Deus
Goose