GPS tracking devices can't stop crime

Here they speak about some released sex offenders going on to commit further crimes, but lawmakers continually ignore that, released non sex offenders go on to commit SIX sex crimes to every ONE committed by a released sex offender. So, for the THREE sex offender crimes mentioned in this article there were EIGHTEEN sex crimes committed by released non sex offenders. See DOJ 2003. Are lawmakers sacrificing victims?

3-27-2011 Massachusetts:

For almost a decade, the Massachusetts Probation Service has been keeping an eye on probationers, parolees and sex offenders through its electronic monitoring program.

Started as an alternative to keeping offenders in jail, the program, which celebrates its 10th anniversary next month, monitors 1,930 criminals across the state from its Clinton headquarters, which is open around the clock.

"The technology is fantastic," Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early said. "It is an effective tool that gives an offender incentive to behave."

But some public safety officials still argue that there is no substitute for incarceration.

Offenders can always remove their monitoring bracelets and commit a crime before police can catch up, although most state officials agree that those cases are rare.

"I've held the bracelets myself and have looked at them very closely," Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis said. "It is extraordinarily difficult to even attempt to remove."

In just the last two months, though, there have been two local incidents where offenders removed the bracelets.

On Tuesday, Rodney Scudder, a Connecticut man, removed his tracking bracelet and fled to Framingham, where he was charged with holding a woman against her will in the Red Roof Inn.

On March 18, Brian Addeo, a violent sex offender on lifetime parole who once lived in Upton, cut his bracelet off, threw it in the back of a pickup truck and fled to Maine, where he was later arrested.

Last year, William French took off his GPS bracelet, authorities say, and then raped a Framingham woman in her apartment. French was wearing the bracelet after serving eight years in prison for raping another Framingham woman in 2001. He is a Level 3 sex offender.

The bracelets are made so an alert goes off when offenders tamper with the devices, and an arrest warrant follows since removing a bracelet violates parole or probation.

But that doesn't stop some offenders, which is why Joseph DiPietro, founder and president of Protect Mass Children, argues that the system is flawed.

"It doesn't work," DiPietro said. "There is only one thing that works and that is jail. If we have to build more prisons to keep our children safe, so be it."

DiPietro started Protect Mass Children last year as he looked for a way to strengthen mandatory sentences for sex offenders. The organization has contributed to three bills in the state Legislature that would, among other things, make mandatory sentences for repeat sex offenders the law.

"How many times do people have to cut off their bracelets and rape someone before the state wakes up and says this isn't working?" DiPietro said. "The state should be finding ways to keep these people in jail."

Middlesex District Attorney said, however, that the bracelets aren't meant for those types of criminals.

"If we think someone is a violent offender, we ask that they go to jail," Leone said. "In certain cases, (the bracelet) is not an appropriate substitution for incarceration. But when we do ask for a monitoring bracelet, we are under no illusions that it is somehow going to keep people safe from a predator who can do a bad act with it on."

Both the Middlesex and Worcester County sheriff departments use monitoring systems for offenders, separate from the probation system. They monitor via satellite, typically giving the bracelet to people who qualify for work release.

Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, who said he familiarized himself with the system after taking the job earlier this year, said his office can get up-to-the-minute updates.

One time, he watched an offender travel on a train on his way to a job interview, the indicator on the screen moving along the train tracks.

"It is really a fascinating experience to see this," Koutoujian said. "There is great value in this. But there is always risk involved with anyone going out on the bracelet."

Since 2005, the number of offenders with GPS bracelets has grown to about 1,200 people a day, said Paul Lucci, deputy commissioner of probation and statewide manager of the electronic monitoring program.

The GPS lets the Probation Service monitor movement in real time. Of the 1,930 who are watched, about 1,154 are monitored by GPS.

The other 776 are watched through a radio frequency bracelet, the program's initial monitoring device. These offenders are typically under house arrest or confined to a specific area.

A judge ultimately decides who wears the bracelets as a term of release. The district attorney's office can request one, but the judge makes the final decision.

The offender is then given a bracelet, a cellphone, a Personal Tracking Unit and a cellphone charger. Probation uses the tracking unit as its main source, and the bracelet transmits real-time locations to the satellite through the cellphone.

With the GPS, Probation can draw specific zones where an offender cannot go, as approved by the court. Once offenders enter prohibited areas, the monitoring headquarters gets a signal and then contacts the offender through the cellphone, either by text or call.

"Initially, the GPS system was landline-based," said Coria Holland, Probation's director of communications. "Now, both landlines and cellphones can be used. And the GPS technology also provides an archive system so we can go back to see where an offender has gone."

Leone said he thinks cutting off monitoring bracelets is becoming more frequent because criminals talk among themselves. If one of them figures out how to get the bracelet off, they will likely share with others.

"There are conversations that take place between defendants," Leone said. "I think, like any bad behavior by people who have been convicted, they learn."

Leone also pointed out that not every monitor has a person watching it every moment of the day. The program is more to watch whether an offender is in a specific area, and to be able to track where the offender has been if needed.

"To people like myself and the prosecution system, a GPS bracelet is not something that prevents. Essentially a GPS bracelet allows you to make a case after the fact," Leone said. "And that is why I stress it is not an appropriate substitution for incarceration." ..Source..