Police seek to track violent offenders

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () bsf-llc com>]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/02/15/police_se
ek_to_track_violent_offenders?mode=PF

Police seek to track violent offenders


Those on probation may have to wear GPS device


By Suzanne Smalley, Globe Staff  |  February 15, 2006

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole announced
yesterday that authorities will begin urging judges to have electronic ankle
bracelets placed on violent criminals put on probation.

The initiative will target repeat offenders, who officials say are driving
much of the city's surge in crime.

''To the small percentage of players who are preying on our communities, who
offend time and time again, our message is clear today: not any more,"
O'Toole said in a City Hall press conference. ''Now, not only do we know who
you are, but we know where you are. Think twice before you reoffend, because
you will be held accountable for your crimes."

Initially, police and probation officers would use 100 monitoring bracelets,
but if the program succeeds, they could seek to include more offenders.
Boston would be the first city in Massachusetts and appears to be the only
city in the Northeast using the advanced global positioning system
technology to track violent criminals who are not sex offenders, officials
said.

GPS-linked ankle bracelets are on 92 serious sex offenders in Massachusetts,
allowing officials to track them around the clock. The system also allows
for the alerting of officials if sex offenders enter areas, often
playgrounds and schools, where they are barred.

O'Toole said police also plan to use the devices to investigate crimes and
will archive the data showing violent offenders' movements, so that police
can pinpoint exactly who was and was not at a crime scene. The technology
will ''provide police investigators with crucial real-time data that focuses
on and eliminates suspects and witnesses that are monitored with the
tracking devices," she said.

John Reinstein, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of
Massachusetts, said that courts have generally held that people on probation
have less of an expectation of privacy than most citizens.

However, he said, while it may be appropriate for judges to impose
monitoring on some violent offenders as a condition of probation, keeping
records of movement may not be appropriate.

''It is simply one more diminution of privacy rights and not a lot different
from many other privacy rights that we lose every day because of the growing
digital capacity of the government to collect information about us,"
Reinstein said.

O'Toole said the legality of the devices has been reviewed by city lawyers.
She said Boston Municipal Court Chief Justice Charles R. Johnson has
''embraced the technology," though she conceded that individual judges
''have discretion, obviously."

O'Toole said she also wants to place the devices on some suspects awaiting
trial, but Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said that, except in
rare cases, that could be done only when people give their permission, since
they have yet to be convicted of a crime.

Conley said that for people accused of serious crimes, such as gun charges,
GPS monitoring should not be used in place of high bail amounts. ''If
someone uses a firearm, I consider that person very dangerous and really not
suitable for GPS," said Conley, who did not attend the press conference. He
said he supports tracking offenders on probation.

Deputy Commissioner Paul Lucci of the Office of the Commissioner of
Probation said that his agency has 100 bracelets available for use on
defendants in the Boston court system, but could obtain more of the
bracelets, if necessary. Officials said it costs about $9.50 a day to
monitor one person, including the equipment.

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