NY- A New Plan to Keep Track of Sex Offenders in CNY

10-24-2008 Central New York:

There are more than 150 registered sex offenders in Onondaga County and come January, the probation department will start monitoring twenty of them using an ankle bracelet equipped with GPS tracking.

We have an update on a story we brought you over the summer. Come January, The Onondaga County Probation Department hopes to put ankle bracelets equipped with GPS tracking on twenty high-risk sex offenders.

Onondaga County Executive Joannie Mahoney says you can never go too far when it comes to protecting citizens.

"There are people who have been as the Senator said, arrested, prosecuted and served their time and have a lot of freedom granted as a result of having served their time but we don't ever want to give them the freedom to offend again," said Mahoney.

When a sex offender goes into an off-limits area like a school or playground, a voice from the bracelet will tell them to leave. If they don't a siren goes off, dispatching a probation officer. The money for the program comes from a state grant. ..News Source.. by News Radio 570 WSYR



Local Civil Liberties Union Responds to Sex Offender Plan

They say the plan to put a GPS tracking device on sex offenders could mean legal action, but so far no decision has been made.

Residents and politicians are always looking for ways to keep kids safe from sex offenders, but at what cost?

Onondaga County's probation department will put ankle bracelets equipped with GPS tracking devices on 20 sex offenders in January.

An alarm will sound if the person gets too close to schools, playgrounds or maybe even the mall.

Barrie Gewanter, the local President of the state's Civil Liberties Union, says it's unreasonable.

Gewanter says it's too early to know whether her group will take any action. ..News Source.. by News Radio 570 WSYR