GPS devices installed on sex offenders

[ehra]

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/01/10/pilot-program-uses-gps-technology-to-track-sex-offenders/

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — More than 1,100 registered sex offenders live and work in Allegheny County and 43 of them are now wearing monitoring devices as a condition of their parole.

District Attorney Stephen Zappala blames the nature of the crime for the need to better track these offenders.

“Because the psychology of the crime of the criminal actually is, they will re-offend and so we’re looking at persons who are recidivists,” Zappala said.

The offenders are monitored by places like Guardian Protection Service. The system uses GPS technology.

As long as the offenders stay in the inclusion area, they’re OK, but if they travel into an exclusion area, police are notified immediately.

“Exclusion zones for example [are] schools, daycares, playgrounds, facilities where children congregate for those sex offenders,” John Hudson, a security consultant, said. “We’ve identified in their red zones. If an offender with a device goes into one of the red zones, an exclusion zone, we’ll be notified immediately.”

“On the policing side, it’s really important for the community to know that once these bracelets are put on these guys the police can watch them 24/7,” Zappala.

KDKA’s Bob Allen tested the system by putting on a bracelet and driving to the Woodland Hills High School parking lot in Churchill.

The system tracked him the whole way down the Parkway East to the school. Within 30 seconds after driving on school property, the pager went off warning him he was in an exclusion zone.

The GPS system worked. In a real situation, any convicted sex offender wearing a bracelet and caught in one of the red zones would be arrested and possibly sent back to prison.

“These particular offenders we know where they are 24/7, the police patrol with purpose,” Zappala said. “If you have children especially, I think that’s really significant.”

Oh geeze.

[orcus116]

Must suck to get arrested for accidenty strolling by a park on a walk.

[Adami]

I still wonder why sex offenders get treated WAY worse than any other criminal.

[orcus116]

Especially since the range is so wide. A sex offender can range from a child molester to someone who got caught drunk peeing behind a dumpster.

[El Barto]

Most likely, Guardian Protection Service lobbied heavily for the new rules, and nobody in public office can vote against something ostensibly designed to protect kiddos.  Looks like we have a new cottage industry, and they'll be popping up in your town pretty soon.  I used to think it was all silly paranoia, but now it seems to be more about big business exploiting gullible parents for lucrative government contracts. 

[Fuzzboy]

I used to think it was all silly paranoia, but now it seems to be more about big business exploiting gullible parents for lucrative government contracts. 

This

[73109]

This is fucking pathetic.

[Chino]

A man used to live up the street from me. We both used to build radio control trucks as a hobby, so I hung out with the dude a lot. Real nice guy, had a smoking hot wife, and three awesome kids. All of which he treated with all the care in the world. He flew 747's for a living. Him and a buddy were coming home from some banquet where he got hammered. The guy driving pulled over on the side of the highway so the man up the street from me could take a piss. A state trooper saw and charged him with indecent exposure. The man is now a registered sex offender.

[sonatafanica]

Well, it also states that the bracelet is assigned in relation to the nature of the crime. I doubt taking a piss on the side of the road would get you tracked like that.

Though that is a pretty bullshit thing to be charged with in such an instance.

[Fiery Winds]

My issue is that these folks are being sentenced after already having been sentenced.  "Yeah...we feel you're still a threat, so we're going to tack on a few more years of probation, and have you wear one of these devices".  What happened to due process?

[William Wallace]

I'm willing to bet this "pilot program" is being, or will be, challenged in court, and the county loses. Any idea, ehra?   

[ack44]

In a real situation, any convicted sex offender wearing a bracelet and caught in one of the red zones would be arrested and possibly sent back to prison.

This is weak. The bracelets should have some kind of torture function when the perverts get near the red zones. Like little needles on the inside of the bracelet that dig into your veins. That or they should just blow up after a five second warning.

[Perpetual Change]

I'm missing the context here. Are these bracelets for everyone, or just for Father Grab-a-buck who's just finished doing time and wants to 'help out around the parish' again?

[Orbert]

A man used to live up the street from me. We both used to build radio control trucks as a hobby, so I hung out with the dude a lot. Real nice guy, had a smoking hot wife, and three awesome kids. All of which he treated with all the care in the world. He flew 747's for a living. Him and a buddy were coming home from some banquet where he got hammered. The guy driving pulled over on the side of the highway so the man up the street from me could take a piss. A state trooper saw and charged him with indecent exposure. The man is now a registered sex offender.

This is why the entire "sex offender registry" is bullshit.  The man's life is practically ruined now.  You say he flew 747s; was he dismissed?  There are lots of companies who simply will not hire registered sex offenders to work in any job which includes contact with the public.  Period.  I don't know if being a pilot qualifies, but you never know.

Even if the airline itself doesn't have any problem with it (because they're halfway intelligent and understand the difference between pissing on the side of the road and statutory rape), all it takes is one overzealous idiot to wreck all that.  "Bodast Airlines hires sex offenders to fly their airplanes!"  Nowadays, with all the politics and paranoia, that alone - true or not - is enough to see their business drop a few percent, and nobody can afford that.  The bean counters can't risk it, and I could see some companies just plain letting him go.

[7StringedBeast]

Out of 1,100 people only 43 people were assigned.  So I'm guessing these people have are already prone to going back and re-offending based off of similar cases that they've seen this happen.  So I'm guessing the people that are being track have done something pretty damn egregious.  I see it as no different than putting someone on house arrest and giving them the bracelet so they can't leave their home. 

A lot of times (maybe all the time?)  aren't allowed in places like playgrounds, schoolgrounds, daycares, etc after they've done their time.  So this just lets police know if they do go to those areas.  It's just a way for them to follow it up and enforce the rules already set.  But people see GPS and go LOLZ BIG BROTHER.

It doesn't say that this tracking system follows their every move, it just says it warns the police when they go into these red zones.  Unless I'm mistaken.

EDIT:  It says they can watch them 24/7 but its unclear as to whether they can pull up that persons location 24/7 or just monitor whether or not they are in the red zones 24/7

[ehra]

I'm willing to bet this "pilot program" is being, or will be, challenged in court, and the county loses. Any idea, ehra?   

I haven't been able to find anything about it being challenged in court, but I have found out that putting GPS devices on offenders has been going on for at least a year now. I'm guessing this was just new in Pittsburgh

It doesn't say that this tracking system follows their every move, it just says it warns the police when they go into these red zones.  Unless I'm mistaken.

EDIT:  It says they can watch them 24/7 but its unclear as to whether they can pull up that persons location 24/7 or just monitor whether or not they are in the red zones 24/7

KDKA’s Bob Allen tested the system by putting on a bracelet and driving to the Woodland Hills High School parking lot in Churchill.

The system tracked him the whole way down the Parkway East to the school. Within 30 seconds after driving on school property, the pager went off warning him he was in an exclusion zone.

It says it tracked him live the whole way. I also found this:

https://www.gps-practice-and-fun.com/offender-tracking.html

Active GPS offender tracking
The probation officer is able to locate the offender at any time of the day and can also review their location for any previous time frame. The victim’s home, work, or other location is "hot zoned" and when the offender goes into a "hot zoned" area, the probation officer is notified and the appropriate action may be taken.

When paroled sexual criminals approach places they are prohibited from entering, such as parks, schools or public restrooms where potential victims like women and children often appear, the beeping of electronic offender tracking devices will not only inform people about the potential danger, but the sound will also work as a reminder to sex offenders that they should leave the area immediately and control their behavior.

Passive GPS offender tracking
Passive GPS utilizes an ankle bracelet and a MTD (Miniature Tracking Device). The unit looks a little different, but it basically gives the officer the same information. There is one major difference: the information on the offender’s whereabouts is relayed to the monitoring center after the offender goes home and places the unit in the charger.

Passive offender tracking uses GPS to log the movements of the subject onto the device that the subject is wearing, but there is no real-time monitoring of the subjects whereabouts. At specified times (typically, in the evening at home) the device is connected to a base station which transfers the log data to the monitors.

Both forms will reveal everywhere the person has been, the only difference is that active gives a live feed while passive keeps a log that it transmits at a certain time.

[7StringedBeast]

Ah ha, thanks for that.  I don't think that is a good thing.  I think if it only showed where the person was when they were in these "hot zones" that would be a good way of police keeping track and making sure nothing funny is going on.  But tracking their every move is not too cool.  Although they could just track by cell phone if they wanted to I suppose.  Either way, the device should only be able to let police know where the guy is if he enters a hot zone.

[Chino]

A man used to live up the street from me. We both used to build radio control trucks as a hobby, so I hung out with the dude a lot. Real nice guy, had a smoking hot wife, and three awesome kids. All of which he treated with all the care in the world. He flew 747's for a living. Him and a buddy were coming home from some banquet where he got hammered. The guy driving pulled over on the side of the highway so the man up the street from me could take a piss. A state trooper saw and charged him with indecent exposure. The man is now a registered sex offender.

This is why the entire "sex offender registry" is bullshit.  The man's life is practically ruined now.  You say he flew 747s; was he dismissed?  

I'm honestly not sure. The family moved out of state four years ago, shortly after the incident. 

[Orbert]

That blows, and makes me think there's probably a connection.  Once everyone in your neighborhood hears that you're a "sex offender" and stops talking to you, and their kids suddenly don't want to hang out with your kids anymore, and so on, it seems likely you'd want to just move the hell away.

Of course, then you move to a new neighborhood, and there's gonna be at least one person who decides to check you out online, finds out you're a "sex offender" (I'm gonna keep using the quote marks because it's such a bullshit useless term) and now all your new neighbors know about it too.  As I said, the guy's life is basically ruined.  Because he took a piss on the side of the road.  Yay, America.

[El Barto]

I'm going to point out that you don't have to be a sex offender to be tracked with GPS.  Happens to normal people who've committed no crime other than being named Mohammad.  Frankly, these guys seem to have an advantage as at least they know it's going on.  Uncle Sammy could be tracking any of us and they're under no obligation to tell anyone.

As for any legal challenges, it'll stand up.  I don't know of many laws sticking it sex offenders that actually get shot down.  If you can lock them up indefinitely, even after they've finished their sentence, then GPS'ing them isn't going raise any flags. 

And while this is merely a pilot program, I guarantee you it'll be expanded.  I bet Guardian Protection Service is already warning people that it's not effective enough without more people being tracked.  And since it's a given that the court makes the offender pay for the cost of the monitoring (ain't that grand),  there's no reason that vote-grabbing cocksuckers won't jump on the bandwagon.
 
Welcome to life in the greatest nation on Earth! 

[7StringedBeast]

How about don't commit sex offender crimes, don't have to worry about it.  They are only tagging people with high risk to re-offend. 

[Chino]

How about don't commit sex offender crimes, don't have to worry about it.  They are only tagging people with high risk to re-offend. 

That's what we are being told until the program begins to expand to more and more offenders.

[Cool Chris]

Since I don’t think anyone knows my true identity here, I will share this. I am a ‘sex offender.’ Over 10 years ago when I was in my early 20s, I was talking to a gal online who said she was 18. Turns out she was 15, and since some of our conversations were of a sexual nature, I was convicted of soliciting her for sex. It was a real person, not one of those sting operations. And it apparently didn’t matter that she initiated and perpetuated the lie. I am the adult, so I pay the price. Yes, I should have been smarter.

The jail term was short and painless, the ‘sexual addiction/rehab’ program I was forced to enroll in was long and costly, and yes, the state has me in their database, though I am the lowest level and my name isn’t online for concerned mommies to find. At least as far as I’ve been abel to find out. But I appreciate the state not considering me a huge threat to society, and allowing me to still function as a contributing member of society.

So, as you can imagine, I feel pretty strongly about this issue. The term ‘sex offender’ is pretty broad, and doesn’t generally represent the old stereotype of the creepy guy lurking around the playground with candy in his pocket and a windowless van parked in the shadows. Most of the guys I met were reasonably functional guys who are better served in society than getting gang raped in the prison showers for 20 years. But then they don’t generally approve those guys for rehab anyway. Some criminals are above rehab – but that’s another issue. Most guys realize they committed a crime, are willing to ay the price and get help they might need, and do whatever it takes to stay out of the hole. I think civil commitments are BS, as are these monitors. We are expecting people who have paid their date to society to not even drive through a school zone? Do they have details maps of where they are supposed to avoid? I don’t necessarily know when I am ever 500’ or whatever from a school zone. Seriously, who would?

I’m not coming here in the defence of all sex offenders. Some of them belong locked up forever. But if the courts and the prosecutor feel someone has paid their dues, shouldn’t we let them return to society with some level of freedom attached?

Feel free to ban/refuse to talk to me if you view me as a scumbag. I've made mistakes, and I've paid for them, and am now doing the best I can, GPS-free.

[orcus116]

How about don't commit sex offender crimes, don't have to worry about it.

Well there are several examples in this thread about how you can do something relatively minor and stupid and get permanently labeled so just telling someone "don't commit the crime!" is rather silly.

[El Barto]

How about don't commit sex offender crimes, don't have to worry about it.  They are only tagging people with high risk to re-offend. 

Yet.  It's a pretty simple arrangement. A company makes money by tracking sex offenders.  They want more business, so they propose expanding the number of people they get to track.  Politicians aren't allowed to say no to such things.  More people are considered sex offenders. 

Lets also keep in mind that the alleged recidivism rate of sex offenders is highly overstated.  One of the things that concerned me about the article was “Because the psychology of the crime of the criminal actually is, they will re-offend and so we’re looking at persons who are recidivists,”.  The notion that sex offenders have a higher recidivism rate is bogus.  With treatment it tends to be considerably lower than other crimes. 

Edit:  CC, be very thankful you live in whatever state you do.  Sounds like you were exceptionally lucky.

[7StringedBeast]

That's an interesting story Chris.  In my opinion you were wrongly convicted.  And like I was saying, as long as these GPS things are just used for high risk type of offenders its a good tool for police.  Perhaps it could even be a good tool for offenders by warning them when they are near one of these zones.

[orcus116]

Politicians aren't allowed to say no to such things.

I'm guessing you mean in fear of being shunned for speaking up against how strict these laws are?

[7StringedBeast]

How about don't commit sex offender crimes, don't have to worry about it.

Well there are several examples in this thread about how you can do something relatively minor and stupid and get permanently labeled so just telling someone "don't commit the crime!" is rather silly.

Regardless that doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't do the crime.  I'd like to see the laws become a little more sane as well.  I don't think minor crimes like what CC did or taking a leak on the side of the road are sex offenses.  I'd change the law if I could.  I'm talking about real sex offending crimes.  Crimes that actually harm people.

[orcus116]

I kinda find it funny how taking a leak on the side of the road with no one else around can net you a sex offender label yet in some sports stadiums we still have open trough urinals where a dozen or so men can whip out their dicks to piss alongside any age of boy inside of the bathroom.

[7StringedBeast]

I think its obvious to most reasonable people that taking a leak on the side of the road is a bullshit sentence.  So I'm thinking we are missing part of the story, or something.  Maybe the law really is that messed up though.

What I'm thinking though is that these gps things for offenders isn't really a bad idea.  What everyone seems to have a problem with is that it might get applied to people who really shouldn't need it because their crime was minor.  So don't get an issue with the GPS, instead have issues with the laws.  I think the gps is a good idea.  It just needs to be applied correctly, as do the laws.  So really the laws need to get re-examined.

My thought is that if you committed a crime so egregious that the police feel the need to track your every move, you probably deserve it.  At least that's how it should be.

[Cool Chris]

Edit:  CC, be very thankful you live in whatever state you do.  Sounds like you were exceptionally lucky.

We’ve actually gotten a lot tougher, I’m lucky it happened 10+ years ago. We have become very strong on civil commitments.

Regardless that doesn't change the fact that you shouldn't do the crime.  I'd like to see the laws become a little more sane as well.  I don't think minor crimes like what CC did or taking a leak on the side of the road are sex offenses.  I'd change the law if I could.  I'm talking about real sex offending crimes.  Crimes that actually harm people.

Right, There are plenty of harmful people out there, and they need to be dealt with. But whether or not harm is caused is apparently open to interpretation. Did I harm a minor by talking with her about sex? She didn’t exactly sound like it was a new topic for her. Does the guy who dl’s some kiddie porn do any harm? What if he thinks they are 18+ but they are not?


Edit: 7SB, the thinking is that if their crimes are that egregious, why aren't they dealt with within the court system, their jail term, etc...  and not once they are out 'free' on probation.

[Chino]

In order to be considered a sex offender you should first have to physically touch someone else...

[Genowyn]

In order to be considered a sex offender you should first have to physically touch someone else...

but the CHILDREN

[7StringedBeast]

In your case CC, since she told you she was 18 and never said anything else otherwise, so I feel like you did nothing wrong.  How were you supposed to know she was lying?  If someone tells you they are 18 over the internet well you believe them and its their fault for lying.  That's how I think it should have went for you.  I honestly don't understand how you were convicted.  Seems wrong to me.

And the guy dl kiddie porn is doing harm by giving that stuff a market and prolonging it.  I think DL it is not as bad as distributing it though. 

It could be part of their probation to have a gps on.  Just like peeing in a cup, but for keeping them away from children.

[7StringedBeast]

In order to be considered a sex offender you should first have to physically touch someone else...

What about photographing, or video taping young girls and selling it on the internet?