Court to require ankle bracelet monitoring for some offenders
Tod Collins, News Tribune
Have a hard word to say to the person who filed a restraining order against you?
Better keep it to yourself: violating an order or protection in La Salle, Bureau or Grundy counties means you could be fitted with a tracking device strapped to your ankle. And you’d have to pay for the privilege, to the tune of $450 a month.
This new policy is the result of the state’s Cindy Bischof Law, named for an Arlington Heights woman whose estranged boyfriend killed her despite an order of protection against him — and two charges for violating that order.
The Cindy Bishcof law provides that a person charged with a violation of an order of protection, as a condition of bail, may be ordered by the court to carry or wear a global positioning system device that would sound when the suspect approached his or her victim. The legislation was introduced in early 2008, passed both houses unanimously and was signed into law less than six months after introduction.
The state wouldn’t pay for its implementation, however, so the 13th Judicial Circuit set about ways to transfer the costs to the suspects. William Pfalzgraf, director of court services, said a violator is looking at monitoring charges of $15 a day and while the courts will try to expedite a monitoring case, the charges could add up quickly.
“We looked for companies that could do this without costs to the county,” Pfalzgraf said.
Prosecutors and court officials aren’t thrilled with the Cindy Bishof law. As worded, the law requires a court-appointed counselor to evaluate a suspect and determine whether or not he or she poses a risk to the victim. If there is a risk, the court then must authorize a tracking device.