JULY 22, 2007

Suffolk Expands G.P.S. Use
In Monitoring Sex Offenders

By Linda Saslow, The New York Times

Suffolk County is expanding the use of the global positioning system (G.P.S.) for the surveillance of sex offenders on probation there. A bill sponsored by Legislator John M. Kennedy Jr. of Nesconset, unanimously passed by the legislature last month and signed into law by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy on July 13, will provide $128,000 to pay for salaries and benefits for an additional 10 probation officers and a supervisor.

For the past year, the county’s Department of Probation has used the technology to monitor 50 offenders considered at high risk of recidivism, using electronic ankle bracelets and belts that track their whereabouts at all times.

Mr. Kennedy said that while the program has proven successful, the 2007 operating budget did not include sufficient staffing to administer the program effectively. By adding more officers, the new bill will enable the program to monitor 100 offenders, which Mr. Kennedy estimates is from 30 to 40 percent of the total number of sexual predators on probation in Suffolk County.

Mr. Kennedy was the sole legislator who voted against a law passed in December that prohibits these sex offenders from loitering within 100 feet of schools, playgrounds and other places where children congregate. Mr. Kennedy had argued that similar antiloitering laws in other areas had been declared unconstitutional and were difficult to enforce.

He said, “G.P.S. is a real solution.”

The cost of monitoring a single sex offender with G.P.S. is $43 a day, according to Mr. Kennedy.

Copyright © 2007 The New York Times Company