Politician Makes a Statement with GPS Tracking Bracelet
A woman might wear a fancy bracelet to make a fashion statement. A candidate for Philadelphia district attorney is wearing a GPS tracking bracelet to make a political statement.
Michael Untermeyer, a Republican who wants to become the city’s top prosecuting attorney, voluntarily had a GPS tracking ankle bracelet put on his left leg in the first week of September. He plans to wear the GPS tracking bracelet non-stop for a month. He invited anyone curious enough to go on his website and find out where he is, any time of day or night. His travels are being recorded by GPS tracking and displayed on a map in real time.
The politician said the GPS tracking ankle bracelet serves as a physical reminder of the overcrowded prison system. It also, quite literally, represents the politician’s proposed solution: put more nonviolent offenders on house arrest with GPS tracking devices.
Untermeyer’s opponent in the election said it’s nothing more than a gimmick.
The GPS tracking device is identical to those local courts use to monitor offenders who are waiting to stand trial. It is waterproof, so the user can shower with it. If it is cut off, a circuit will be broken and a text and visual alert will be sent to authorities at a monitoring center.
GPS tracking of criminals should not only give the prisons some breathing room, it would save taxpayers money. It costs the city about $100 a day to house a prisoner, and less than $10 a day to operate a GPS tracking system, Untermeyer’s office estimated.
A GPS tracking bracelet works similar to a vehicle tracking unit. Using GPS satellite signals, the GPS tracking unit records the exact location of the wearer, minute by minute, and that location data is transmitted to a map on a remote computer. The offender’s whereabouts can be watched by GPS tracking in “real time.”
A second option for GPS tracking is geo-fencing. Rather than watching non-stop for violations of the conditions of release, law officials can set up a virtual boundary around the home, and get email or text alerts if the offender crosses that “line in the sand.” More than one GPS tracking geo-fence can be placed in the suspect’s environment. GPS tracking boundaries can be set to keep child sex offenders away from parks and schools. Those with restraining orders can be “fenced out” or forbidden to go near their victim’s home or work.
Critics to Untermeyer’s plan say a GPS tracking bracelet is not as strong of a crime deterrent as the cold, steel bars of a cell. Every day, some suspect sheds his GPS tracking device and resumes his criminal acts.
Recently, there was a story about a career burglar in Britain, who was fitted with a GPS tracking bracelet when paroled. The man’s offenses included robbery, larceny, escape and carrying a dangerous weapon. Police had been searching for him since he removed his GPS tracking bracelet in April.
By May 3, he was back to a life of crime. Untraceable due to his broken GPS tracking unit, he broke into a home in New Britain, stole $5,000 in jewelry, DVDs and prescription medications, and assaulted the homeowner when she encountered him.
Tags: GPS Tracking, overcrowded, Political, prison
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