New Jersey lawmakers will consider a measure this afternoon requiring high-risk sexual predators to wear satellite tracking ankle bracelets so police would know their location.

The state's pilot sex offender tracking program is set to end in August after a two-year tryout. The proposal under consideration would make the program permanent, keeping the 156 pedophiles now being tracked under surveillance without interruption, and adding more sex criminals to the list.

The cost of monitoring sex offenders using Global Positioning System technology is $8 per day per person, or about $2.3 million a year to track up to 250 released criminals, according to the state Division of Parole. At least 23 other states use similar tracking mechanisms to keep tabs on sexual predators deemed likeliest to commit new crimes.

"I think it's a worthwhile program," said Capt. Sean Asay, deputy director of the Parole Division, who is expected to testify at today's Senate Law and Public Safety hearing. "If you're going to have any kind of handle on this population -- where they're going, what they're doing -- this is the closest you can get without them physically being watched all the time."

There has been no assessment of the pilot program. A report on its effectiveness is due to legislators in November, three months after it ends.

Asay said nine offenders under monitoring have been charged with violating parole since the program started. However, the GPS tracking devices have not resulted in any arrests for new sex crimes, he said.

The Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee passed the bill last month.

Sex offenders whom the Parole Board requires to be monitored wear a leg transmitter with locking pins to keep it from being removed. Whenever they leave home, they also must take a tracking device along, which is about the size of a portable radio and can be carried in a backpack or belt pouch.

The technology allows authorities to know where sex offenders are at all hours, and the data on their whereabouts is kept at least three years. If a sex crime is reported later, authorities can check where an offender was in relation to the crime, Asay said.

Tom Rosenthal, a spokesman for the state Public Defender's office, said at least two people wearing the anklets have reported malfunctions.

One, a garbage collector, was on his route when his anklet started emitting a noise to let him know it wasn't working. When that happens, offenders are told to find a spot outdoors and stand still so the tracking satellite can re-establish a connection with the device.

"His boss was getting angrier and angrier," Rosenthal said. "That's a problem because you don't want to jeopardize the guys jobs."

It's the stability of work and living in the community that keeps convicts from committing new crimes, Rosenthal said. 

Source:  delmarvanow.com