Lifetime GPS Tracking

Tracking sex offenders forever

SOME STATES REQUIRE LIFETIME GPS MONITORING AFTER PRISON TERMS END

By David A. LiebASSOCIATED PRESS
Technology that helps the military align targets and motorists find their way is being tapped to track some sex offenders forever....

read the rest of the article here:

http://tinyurl.com/d6a32

Pretty interesting stuff .. this article is in at least 115 newspapers this morning. Some interesting issues and conundrums here for sure.

As a provider of this kind of technology my first thought is, Wow, yes, bring it on! The actual equipment to track offenders is relatively cheap today and given the huge increase in volume that this kind of law would force it would get even cheaper. And I could still get rich *smile*

As a parent and a supporter of laws for the protection of children I applaud the idea because we certainly aren't doing the kind of job we should be to prevent recidivism in this area. All too sadly, when a sex crime occurs, the police dig out the list of the "usual Suspects" -- past offenders, and the perpetrator almost always pops up.

However, the good side has some very challenging downsides.

First and foremost, even someone who was convicted of a dastardly crime might have the right to some degree of privacy after he or she has served their sentence ... or at least an argument can be made for that right under our constitution. Remember, for every disgusting child rapist there are thousands of 'sex offenders' whose primary crime was giving in to their basic nature without checking some girl's birth certificate .. or a middle age teacher (in today's world, male or female), acting out a mid-life fantasy with an all too willing student. A crime? yes, certainly under today's laws, but is it a crime that requires a life sentence? And, if so, why didn't the court impose a life sentence to begin with? I'm posing questions here, I certainly don't have the answers.

What I do have some answers for is the second big question ... who is going to track these individuals and who is going to pay? The knee-jerk decisions by state governments to impose these regulations is at least a very double-edged sword. The police and probation authorities are typically pretty well loaded with work today and very seldom 'fat' in the budget department. The real sentences imposed here may be upon law enforcement and tax payers.

Let's say state 'X' passes a law that says all sex offenders must be tracked. Let's further postulate that the sate has 1000 individuals in the tracking "inventory", and that the money to equip those thousand ner-do-wells with bracelets or some kind of tracking "box" is available. No problem, line them up, clip on the device, and Bob's your uncle, right?

Well the logistics of rounding up a thousand people are non-trivial, but again, by magic, the state agency responsible gets it done.

Now, how often do you want these individuals reported upon? Daily? Well, maybe that's not quite frequently enough .. the perpetrator can do a lot of damage in 24 hours and then be back in his house like a good little boy or girl easily before the next report. OK, better go to hourly, that'll fox the bastards, won't it? Hmm, an hour? what rape or perversion takes an hour? The guy still has time to visit the school yard, do his dirty thing and then be home before his actions are know. OK, minute by minute, that's the ticket, that'll do it, there, Dave, that's your answer.

Got it boss. Now, consider this: To report minute by minute on an object of interest ... person or vehicle ... we're talking a minimum of $20 a month at the most current cell phone data rates. In practicality, more like $30 or $40 bucks. I'm sure most states have a spare $360,000 floating around in the state budget for telecom costs ... doesn't your state? (and remember I'm talking the cell phone network here, perhaps a good choice in some states, but suppose we do that here in Colorado .. do you know how many places have _no_ cell data coverage at all in the western states? Massive holes in coverage. OK then, can't these devices report back via satellite? Sure, however the cost of the units per "trackee" just doubled or tripled and the cost for the bandwidth just went up by a factor of perhaps three ... we're up to maybe a million five to track our dastardly doers.

Lastly, to keep a much longer story a bit shorter), let's say we solve those costs and the data is flowing. The data is flowing where? What state or county agency has an on-line control room set up to monitor individuals roving about the state or even all 50 sates? Hmm, gotta build a sex offender monitor control center .. think Martin Marietta wants to bid on that? Based on my real-world experience a center to monitor even a few hundred offenders is going to cost several hundred thousand dollars ... floor space, consoles, servers and communications control computers, on and on.

By magic you have that monitor station in place, now tell me who is going to man it? one of my projects for the USAF monitors about 400 vehicles on a 24 hour basis. The monitor folks do nothing but keep the system alive and respond to calls for assistance from the vehicles. They don't monitor specific acts performed, they don't know where school yards and municipal swimming pools and other likely offender trolling grounds are ... and it takes 3 or 4 people per shift, 3 shifts a day, 365 days a year. For a thousand sex offenders? Oh let's say 5 or 6 per shift, I'm sure we can slave drive these folks harder than the military does their troops, right?

Patient readers, that is an enterprise that'll cost something like another million or so in salary and benefits .. minimum.

Is GPS tracking of offenders a good thing? Could be, I don't really know, but I think if you look at what the government world refers to as the "Logistics tail" you can surely see it's not a decision to take lightly.