COUNTY TO TRACK CHRONIC OFFENDERS

Suffolk Lawmakers, Police To Use GPS Units On DWI Offenders, Sex
Abusers, Drug Dealers

MELVILLE -- A New York county will embark on a program this summer
that will use global positioning system technology to more closely
monitor a wide range of chronic abusers, including repeat DWI offenders.

Suffolk County plans to place GPS ankle bracelets on convicted sex
offenders, repeat DWI offenders, drug users and dealers, and the
perpetrators of spousal abuse. The devices will provide monitoring 24
hours a day, giving probation officers minute-by-minute reports of an
offender's exact location.

The county's probation department will start with 25 offenders in
June and expand to 100 by the end of the year as part of a pilot
program that will be re-evaluated in December. The county plans to
use about 50 percent of the devices on sexual predators with the rest
to be divided among the other three groups of offenders, according to
probation department director John Desmond.

"These are the chronic types of offenders that maybe with this
technology we could save some money and a lot of grief," said County
Legislator Cameron Alden.

Suffolk, one of a growing number of jurisdictions nationwide using
GPS to track sex offenders, is among the first to use the high-tech
devices on DWI offenders.

"It certainly is an innovative use of the product," said Steve
Chapin, chief executive officer of Pro Tech, which is supplying
Suffolk and 43 states with the devices. "The target population has
been sex offenders."

Where conventional electronic ankle bracelets show only when someone
has left his house, GPS devices coupled with appropriate programming
can tell when a sex offender is near a school, when a DWI offender is
in a speeding car, or when a husband is approaching a wife who has an
order of protection against him.

Laura Ahearn of Parents for Megan's Law praised the use of GPS but
said offenders must be physically monitored, too.

"The use of GPS alone is not going to eliminate child sexual abuse," she said.

Since GPS devices cannot tell when an offender has a child in his
home, Suffolk probation officials said they also will make
unannounced home visits.

The pilot program will cost about $300,000 to set up and $10 a day
per offender.

Desmond said Suffolk will request GPS monitoring as part of probation
agreements. He said the department will target the most chronic offenders.