Unlawful Installation of a Tracking Device
If the motor vehicle is in your spouse’s name or your spouse is leasing it, it is a crime to install a tracking device (LoJack) in or on it. If the vehicle is in your name or leased by you, you may install a tracking device. But be aware, installing a LoJak in your spouses car that is in your name, may be legal but probably not a good idea if your spouse finds out about it and then, in due course, the court.
Unlawful installation of a tracking device is a Class A misdemeanor and will subject the perpetrator to civil liability. It is presumed that damages are incurred upon proof.
V.T.C.A., Penal Code § 16.06 – Unlawful Installation of a Tracking Device
(a) In this section:
(1) “Electronic or mechanical tracking device” means a device capable of emitting an electronic frequency or other signal that may be used by a person to identify, monitor, or record the location of another person or object.
(2) “Motor vehicle” has the meaning assigned by Section 501.002, Transportation Code.
(b) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly installs an electronic or mechanical tracking device on a motor vehicle owned or leased by another person.
(c) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the person:
(1) obtained the effective consent of the owner or lessee of the motor vehicle before the electronic or mechanical tracking device was installed;
(2) assisted another whom the person reasonably believed to be a peace officer authorized to install the device in the course of a criminal investigation or pursuant to an order of a court to gather information for a law enforcement agency; or
(3) was a private investigator licensed under Chapter 1702, Occupations Code, who installed the device:
(A) with written consent:
(i) to install the device given by the owner or lessee of the motor vehicle; and
(ii) to enter private residential property, if that entry was necessary to install the device, given by the owner or lessee of the property; or
(B) pursuant to an order of or other authorization from a court to gather information.
(e) This section does not apply to a peace officer who installed the device in the course of a criminal investigation or pursuant to an order of a court to gather information for a law enforcement agency.