CT- Glitches Cast Doubt On Sex Offender Monitoring

12-11-2008 Connecticut:

A vaunted electronic tracking system actually managed to turn a Southbury serial rapist into a sympathetic figure three months ago.

The gaffe still reverberates, even after a report three weeks ago outlined the problem as a technician's error and made recommendations aimed at making sure the embarrassing mishap won't happen again.

When you can't rely on the accuracy of a global positioning system — the same technology the military uses — to tell you the whereabouts of a sex offender via an electronic ankle bracelet, it doesn't do much for public confidence. About 230 offenders in the state are monitored by electronic bracelets.

"It's a waste of time for the entire system when your client is hauled in for a violation that didn't happen," said Hartford criminal lawyer Carlton Hume. "Of course it shakes your confidence in the system because when it doesn't work, who's going to tell you? It shows that there is no system that doesn't have any faults."

That's the case being made by Thomas Siconolfi, executive director of the state judicial branch's administrative services division.

He is the author of a Nov. 17 report on the judicial branch's use of GPS. It outlines the safeguards needed to prevent mishaps, such as what happened with convicted rapist David Pollitt Sept. 3 in Southbury. A technician apparently misinterpreted GPS data and Pollitt was charged with leaving his designated area.

Many of those safeguards are in place now.

For example, having competent technicians monitoring the GPS tracking system: Those vendors been "read the riot act" and threatened with termination of the $400,000 contract if they are again found to have unqualified technicians monitoring the GPS system, Siconolfi said. "We feel that they have rectified the problem," he said Tuesday.

In a couple of months, a new monitoring center, which will cost between $250,000 to $400,000, will be up and running to better vet tracking system alerts and flag false alarms. Also, 27 new probation officers will be hired next April to focus solely on released sex offenders.

Still, with all that, we know that human error could muck up the process again.

Last year, a convicted rapist out on probation was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in a Bristol park. He was said to be under tight supervision, including GPS monitoring.

Too many times, the public sees this high-tech stuff as highly infallible. It's not.

The bracelets and the technology, Siconolfi said, only augment the enforcement process.

"With all its faults, it's the best complementary technology that we have," he said. "It's not a magic wand. We don't want to rely on it, but without it, we would have far less information about what offenders are doing."

Siconolfi's report found that probation officers were losing confidence in the GPS system because many of the alerts they were getting ending up being system errors or false alarms.

My problem with the ankle bracelets and GPS system is that they're costly. If a determination is made to put one on an offender, maybe that's an indication the inmate is not ready to return to society.

For now, brace yourself for the next time an ex-offender slips out of grasp of this electronic law.

Technology is great. But when it comes to keeping an eye on ex-offenders, it simply tries to make the best of an awkward situation. ..News Source.. by Stan Simpson