On the radar How far can global tracking go to protect would-be victims?
Law Enforcement Technology Magazine - Superman could stop disaster before it happened. On hearing word of danger or injustice, he would fly with super-speed to halt crime and save another mortal from their doom. Fiction is designed to exaggerate. But what if we could anticipate danger, and stop a tragedy before it even began?
No one arrived fast enough to protect Cindy Bischoff on the morning of March 7, 2008. Despite the restraining order in play, a distressed ex-boyfriend tracked Ms. Bischoff down at her place of work. He attacked and murdered her before anyone could arrive to prevent her death.
Cooperation and control
According to Chief Steven Neubauer of the Elmhurst, Illinois Police Department, Ms. Bischoff “did everything right”. “The police department and court system did everything right,” adds Neubauer. “And yet she was ambushed and brutally murdered.” Maybe, if she had known he was near, she could have locked herself in her office until help came. Neubauer hopes that in the future, agencies can use technology to give people a better chance at protecting themselves. For agencies that are required to expand their GPS tracking capabilities, the future starts now.
The Cindy Bischoff Law recently passed by Illinois Senate requires those charged with violating court orders of protection to wear GPS units to track their whereabouts until the case is resolved. At first blush, it seems a legitimate reaction to an appalling murder; but what are the realities of putting such a law into practice? Can the technology stack up to the myriad of situations requiring it? And can departments afford it?
Champaign County (Illinois) Sheriff’s Department is finding out. The immediacy of the new law sent the department into a tailspin at first. They looked to probation service fees to cover costs, thus tightening other areas of operation. But so far, after seeing five separate cases requiring units in the first week, Robert Wyre, supervisor for specialized services at Champaign County, is pleased. In the past, GPS devices were generally used in-house, as discipline. It was more sanction than preventative measure. Now when a violation of order protection comes in, Wyre says they automatically mark the offenders as high risk, and instead of waiting for an assessment to be done they hook up the units, get offenders out and set assessment appointments with local vendors immediately in order to help alleviate some of the overcrowding in their county jail.
Champaign was one of the few agencies to be somewhat prepared when the Bischoff mandate hit the ground. Having already worked with SecureAlert for two years, they are currently working closely with their county judge and SecureAlert reps to streamline this degree of GPS tracking.
Defining safe zones
The monitoring itself is fairly uncomplicated. SecureAlert, headquartered in Sandy, Utah, has 40 associates working flexible schedules and watching units 24/7. Agencies can specify how they want to receive alerts; whether via email, to cell phone, etc. Champaign County elected to use email alerts, but with Bischoff Law cases they have their dispatcher act as a contact person in case there is an exclusion zone violation. Police departments in that jurisdiction are then contacted and dispatched to both the victim and offender’s location.
Inclusion and exclusion zones are defined as needed. Exclusion zones are essentially ‘safe’ areas secured by an electronic fence which an offender cannot penetrate. John Hastings, president and chief operating officer of SecureAlert, says it’s critical to create exclusion zones, especially in cases of domestic violence, around ex-spouses homes, schools, workplaces or any known places where [offenders] go frequently. “That’s very critical in the application of this technology,” says Hastings. “At the time of a breech, unlike just a standard order of protection, which tells the offender or would-be perpetrator that they can’t go within 100 to 500 feet at whatever distance is established, this electronic fence is able to arm itself, identify an infraction immediately, and allow for us through a real-time monitoring center to provide correct interaction and guidelines to the offender, telling them they are in breech, and they must leave that area abruptly.”
Clean communication
And offenders can talk back, thanks to a two-way cellular communication device. SecureAlert offers a unit that integrates cellular capability along with a built-in military–grade speaker and microphone. Users can press a ‘call-outward’ button and contact the monitoring center to ask about protocols, inclusion/exclusion zones, etc. Other agencies can also be patched in on a three-way call. “Some offenders will call and ask if they have permission to go [somewhere], as opposed to going through the embarrassment of triggering an alarm,” says Hastings. “Many offenders appreciate the technology – it can help them and keep them out of trouble.”
Satellite Tracking of People, based out of Houston, Texas also offers systems that can be paired up or down, as necessary. According to Vice President of Operations Brian Moran, the biggest change for GPS tracking happened in 2005 with the introduction of one-piece devices. Prior to that, offenders had two-piece ankle bracelet units, but carried the tracking part of the unit in their hand. “[They] could set that down and walk away, which meant you weren’t tracking the individual, you were tracking the unit … and when they walked away you didn’t really know where they were.” Moran recalls.
One-piece units incorporate cellular technology while eliminating bulk. It’s also useful, as fewer people today have landlines. Wyre decided one-piece was the way to go: “Now, especially today’s generation, everybody has cell phones. And if they didn’t have a landline, we either had to install a landline or skip the system.”
Satellite Tracking of People’s Blu Tag is a completely self-contained device worn on the ankle. It works in fully active mode (common for sex offender tracking) and passive mode – essentially data collection for low-risk individuals that tracks where they went, and any kind of violations that they may have occurred, and reports back when they get home. “We’re always tracking with the cellular … but the cellular tracking is not nearly as accurate. Our first choice is always the GPS,” says Moran.
Better communication can spell timely warnings for wearers – and clarification for officers. Hastings recalls when an offender in Champaign County was put on their device with an inclusion zone within 500 feet of his ex-wife’s home. “We actually observed him going to [the] home,” says Hastings. We warned him and asked him to leave the area. But despite wearing the device, the suspect breeched the exclusion zone. An alarm sounded immediately, and police arrived on scene. Hastings believes this to be the first person to be arrested under the Bischoff Act.
Hiding in plain view
Perhaps the area where intensive GPS use can do the most good is in tracking sex offenders. Or can it? National Center for Missing and Exploited Children statistics indicate there are roughly 674,000 registered sex offenders in the US. And of that number, an estimated 100,000 are missing or non-compliant. These are people who are not where they are supposed to be, who either haven’t registered or provided inaccurate information.
John Coey, the Florida man who recently abducted and murdered 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, had been arrested 23 times prior and was a registered sex offender. Law enforcement knew he was a person of interest when the little girl disappeared, but he wasn’t where he was supposed to be; he was living on the street where the child lived unbeknownst to authorities and even worked construction at the child’s elementary school. Ernie Allen, president of the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, say Coey and others like him are the most dangerous offenders – those who hide in plain view.
“The first question you have to ask is, what are they doing out of prison to begin with,” says Allen. “Nonetheless, when they serve [their sentence], you have no option but to release them. And when you release them, there needs to be a system for meaningful oversight and supervision; GPS is an incredibly valuable tool to provide that kind of oversight; particularly at a time when our system for supervision of these offenders are so overtaxed, so undermanned, and so underfunded.”
When Congress passed the Adam Walsh Act in 2006, they set a three-year time window for states to upgrade their systems in order to create a greater level of consistency and uniformity in tracking sex offenders. The problem was, funds were not appropriated to help states implement it.
In addition to creating better cooperation and communication between jurisdictions, another stipulation of the Adam Walsh Act included the tiering of registered sex offenders, such that individuals who present the greatest risk of re-offense are in one tier and those less likely to reoffend are in a third.
Moran notes that GPS unit parameters are based on the customer’s decision, offender risk-level and the period in which the data gets called in. For a high risk individual, data is called in constantly – especially if they are somewhere they’re not supposed to be. “So long as the GPS receiver on the ankle can hear a satellite signal, we’re tracking them,” says Moran. “You can pretty much go anywhere in the world and be tracked.”
When sexual predators enter exclusion zones, most agencies ask to have police dispatched immediately. SecureAlert’s TrackerPAL has a 95-decibel alarm, as well as a recording capability. In the case of one child predator who denied being in an exclusion zone, Hastings said they could hear the children on the playground over the device. “One of the benefits of having the integrated cellular voice communication is that we can also hear surrounding sounds. When you have a child predator who is telling you ‘I’m not in a playground or school yard’, and you can actually hear the swing sets clanging, you can take action immediately.”
GPS still struggles underground, or anywhere where there’s no line of sight to the sky. This is where the cellular part of a two-piece equation stands in as second-string defense. Some units also use a wireless indoor radio frequency beacon (within the same device) that creates an electronic fence inside a complex.
Outfitting known sex offenders with tracking devices is obviously not a cure-all. But it also cannot hurt. That is, if states can afford to use it and use it well.
Effective, when used effectively
Many feel that GPS technology is helpful, but should not be over-relied upon. Andrew Harris, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Massachusetts cautions that problems arise when Congress makes sweeping legislation to states without considering the law enforcement practitioners, how it will be implemented and what the cost may be.
“To expect that GPS is going to make us safer in and of itself is a recipe for us not being safer,” says Harris. “There is an indication that if you use it effectively, as an adjunct to supervision, to good quality correction practice, that it works.
“When you’re dealing with sex offenders specifically, sometimes just the idea of [getting tough and relying on technology] tends to carry the day, as opposed to being selective, thinking about how our resources are going to be used effectively, and the fact that there are a limited amount of law enforcement out there. Rationality doesn’t always prevail,” says Harris. “Every time you put a GPS device on somebody, it may or may not be appropriate.”
Proponents insist that, when used correctly, supervised technology is freeing. Wearers can live outside of the system with monitoring, and a huge burden is lifted from jails and corrections facilities. Offenders can communicate with officers, keep track of court dates, attend AA and counseling sessions and go to work. SecureAlert has devised their CARE initiative (Correction, Accountability, Rehabilitation, and Empowerment) with this in mind. CARE aims to expand positive communication and erect electronic walls versus prison walls. “It’s a privilege to leave a cell and go back to your family, go back to your work life,” says Hastings. “We may limit your movements, but our technology allows you to go back to work and pay your debts and obligations.”
This can be particularly meaningful for low-risk offenders who have made mistakes and are now held accountable– namely, people who still have a fighting chance in life. Hastings notes SecureAlert is exploring necklace and watch-type GPS devices for “lower risk and juvenile offenders who we don’t want to turn into hardened criminals. We don’t want to send them to criminal college and keep them in the system when we have an opportunity to keep them out.”
Funding needs to ‘get there’
Good technology can save money in the long term, but it is costly in the short. Allen stresses that GPS funding needs to ‘get there’ so it can be used. Perhaps some agencies will route Byrne allocations to these means, but until then, states need monetary help in order to comply with mandates like the Bischoff Law that are designed to protect.
It’s only a matter of time before GPS tracking devices can be used widely and intelligently to stave off repeat offenses. Some agencies are working now to put more tracking devices on offenders. And until telepathy and super-human speed come standard to law enforcement officers, it could be among the best tools they have.