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| How GPS bracelets track sex offenders |
| By Christine Clarridge |
| Published: 04/22/2009 |
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Tracking convicted sex offenders as they go about their daily routines should be dull. If they're doing what they're supposed to be doing — going to work, returning home, shopping for groceries and avoiding "exclusion zones" — then "it's like watching a really boring movie," said Jeff Brown, one of about 10 state Department of Corrections (DOC) officers who supervise King County's high-risk offenders who wear GPS monitoring devices. Brown and other DOC officers follow offenders via a satellite transmitting signals sent by GPS bracelets. The signals are sent to computers, which display the offenders' whereabouts via an online map. The computers receive a signal each minute, providing officers with a road map of where offenders have been. Even when not watched in real time, the GPS ankle bracelet transmits signals when an offender ventures into a place he or she is supposed to avoid, such as schools or parks where children congregate. "The only way a person can offend sexually is to have a cloud of secrecy around them," said Theo Lewis, supervisor of King County's Special Assault Supervision Unit. "This blows that cloud away, and it's highly effective in allowing the CCO [community corrections officer] to intervene before they get to a point where they are going to reoffend." The DOC's use of GPS monitoring has come under fire in recent months. In March, a level 3 sex offender in Snohomish County cut off his GPS monitoring bracelet and left the state. In February, a 13-year-old girl was killed in a field near Vancouver, Wash. A level 3 sex offender — a designation for those considered most likely to reoffend — who was wearing a GPS bracelet has been charged in her slaying. Critics point to the Vancouver slaying, saying GPS monitoring does not alert corrections officers when an offender commits a violent act, but merely indicates their location. They also say it gives the DOC a false sense of security because tracking an offender's location only provides a part of the story. DOC officials readily concede GPS monitoring devices aren't foolproof. Officers don't sit at computers 24 hours a day monitoring every offender under their watch. Instead, they say tracking the location of offenders via satellite signals is a valuable tool to help parole officers keep tabs on high-risk offenders. "When we are tracking clients we use every tool available: documented offense patterns, risk-assessment data, treatment providers, local law enforcement, family members, polygraph examinations, home visits, drug testing and behavior-modification programs," King County's Lewis said. Chad Lewis, a DOC spokesman, said, "We've said all along that no technology, including GPS, can prevent an offender from committing a new crime. It can, however, help our officers hold offenders accountable for where they've been. Before GPS, it was more difficult to know if an offender had been somewhere he is not allowed to be." In the case of the Snohomish County offender who removed his GPS bracelet, DOC officials said the offender's parole officer knew within hours that his device had been cut off and a nationwide arrest warrant was issued. The man was arrested in Texas. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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