High-Tech Systems Help Keep Tabs On The Accused
Florida’s Osceola County has been using AutoMon kiosks to monitor criminals that are let out on bail and awaiting trial.
The kiosks currently use personal identification numbers and fingerprints to verify that a person has checked in, although if the county’s contract is renewed the upgraded kiosks will use hand-geometry biometric identification.
The county has also been using voice recognition programs that randomly call criminals who are under house arrest. The voice recognition programs are 97 percent effective, and require that the person recite a number. If the program does not recognize the voice a fax is sent to the police, who then send officers to follow up.
Over 300 people currently are using the kiosks, most of them offenders who pose little risk to the community and themselves.
The new systems are being used in an effort to reduce costs of detaining prisoners, and saving money through manpower expended on meeting with offenders on bail.
Other regions have been less accepting of the new technologies, saying that there is a greater likelihood of the machines or devices making an error, such as the kiosks not giving receipts, or the phone systems malfunctioning.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Orlando Sentinel (07/07/03) P. B1; Jacobson, Susan.
