Governor Wants State to Track Gangs
California could continue to experiment with using ankle bracelet technology to monitor the movements of gang members, under a $48 million proposal by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Welcomed by some law enforcement groups, the plan calls for the state to expand a pilot program in San Bernardino that uses ankle devices for violent parolees to Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Fresno.
“The worst of the worst will get [global positioning] bracelets so we know exactly where they are and what they are doing,” said Schwarzenegger.
The goal is to monitor violent gang parolees similar to the way in which the state tracks high-risk sex offenders, in that they would be outfitted with an ankle bracelet and a statewide database for following their movements would be created.
However, the proposal is expensive, considering the anklets, which feature an antenna, cost more than $3,000 per year, and thousands of dollars more would have to be spent on parole agents.
San Bernardino has been using 20 ankle bracelets to track 50 gang members since last March. The devices have led the police to the scene of crimes such as a carjacking, drug trafficking, and shots fired at police officers, as well as to a suspect in a murder.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) from the Los Angeles Times (05/26/07) P. B1; Halper, Evan.