But Jim Miller, president of GPS software vendor CompassCom, said most of his clients have recouped their up-front investment costs within a year. Savings from better efficiency and control over fleet use often end up outpacing the price of the units, he said.

Fleet managers can make sure employees are driving vehicles at optimum fuel speeds, see if they are adding unnecessary mileage and even if the engine is in need of a tune-up.

"It has everything in the world to do with how can I spend the taxpayer's money better," he said. "You can monitor all this stuff and say, 'Larry is running a little hot, we need to tell him to have his truck in for maintenance.' "

CompassCom has sold its mobile tracking units to more than 500 clients around the nation from its Colorado office, including trucking companies, police departments and public works divisions. About 170 of those patrons are governments.

The idea of government keeping a thumb on the goings and comings of its employees strikes many people as a "draconian thought," Miller said.

"But it isn't about watching over and making sure that people are not cheating. It has to do with better management of resources," he said. "As a byproduct, absolutely you have the ability to do the slacker tracker."

Miller has already equipped police vehicles in Utah with the GPS tracking units and installed the systems on buses used during the Olympics. The Utah Highway Patrol, for example, recently spent $46,000 to get the equipment on the majority of its vehicles statewide.

The Utah Department of Safety spends an additional $20,000 a year for the service, said spokesman Lt. Doug McCleve.

That investment has been well worth it, McCleve said, allowing police headquarters to locate patrol cars and even see if the shotgun hatch has been opened in the back of the vehicles.

"If the trooper's pulling out his shotgun, something big's going on," he said. "Sometimes things happen so quickly an officer can't even notify dispatch. It's about officer safety for us."

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com