Menino wants GPS eye on gun suspects
By Michele McPhee
Wednesday, February 15, 2006 - Updated: 05:33 AM EST
Mayor Thomas M. Menino is pushing a bold plan to force suspected
gangbangers to wear GPS-monitored electronic bracelets while out on
bail for gun crimes, in a bid to stem the record number of shootings
and murders that have doused Boston with blood.
But the city's district attorney and one victim of violent victim
questioned last night how well a satellite's eye in the sky can work
to restrain criminals bent on violence.
Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley said that without a
suspect's consent, prosecutors could not demand the use of GPS
tracking unless they held a so-called 58A "dangerousness hearing"
to determine if the suspect can be restrained beyond normal bail
requirements.
"I am impressed with the possibilities," Conley said. "But it
should not be a substitute for appropriate bail or incarceration for
hardened criminals. Under current law, the court has very little
authority to mandate the use of the GPS tracking system."
Last night, Christina Carvalho, a 22-year-old Dorchester woman
whose family has been ripped apart by gun violence, said the idea is
"ridiculous."
"How is that going to work? If someone gets locked up and they
want to retaliate, they can just send someone else," said Carvalho,
whose oldest brother, Luis, was murdered by gunmen in 2000. Three years
later, another brother, Chris, 26, was paralyzed from the neck down by
a shooting at a South End gas station.
"They need a police car parked on every street, that's what
they need," Carvalho said. "Spend the money on police, not
bracelets."
If Menino's plan is enacted, it would mean that repeat offenders
will be banned from "exclusion zones" such as rival gang members'
turf, drug locations, and any other area where it is likely they will
encounter a witness or victim.
If the suspect does venture into one of those spots, an alarm will
signal probation officers and an alert will be sent to Boston police.
Currently, 92 sex offenders are monitored by "Trakmate" ankle
bracelets, which use cell phone and satellite signals to pinpoint exact
locations of convicts. Under Menino's plan, the program will be
expanded to track high-risk offenders out on bail, said police
Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole.
"Gun crimes would be our top priority," O'Toole said
yesterday. "With this we are not only telling impact players that we
know who they are - but where you are."
Menino said that he has spoken to Boston Municipal Court Chief
Justice Charles R. Johnson about the monitoring program and received
approval to begin asking judges who set low bails for violent crimes to
require that suspects wear the bracelet.
Currently, officials have 100 additional bracelets ready for
immediate use, said Deputy Commissioner Paul Lucci of the Probation
Department. Taxpayers will be hit for the cost of roughly $10 a day for
each suspect fitted for the bracelet.
How it works
A GPS bracelet attached to a con is like a LoJack on a car - it
monitors a suspect's movements, transmitting his location from a
satellite feed into yellow dots on a screen that is then watched
around-the-clock by probation officers.
The "client" - as suspected gang bangers, sex offenders and
career criminals are referred to by the company that created the
"TrakMate" GPS hardware - wears the device on his ankle and
carries a cell phone so probation officers and cops can contact him.
The mapping software allows law enforcement to store a suspect's
information, including work and home addresses, color-coding locations
with blue dots during curfew and red dots when the person is outside of
schedule.
The data can be queried against a known location of criminal
activity for possible matches.
As a result, if a suspect wearing the bracelet is involved in
another crime, his whereabouts at the time of the incident can be
pinpointed to the minute, said Deputy Commissioner Paul Lucci, who
heads the electronics division of the state's probation department.
If a suspect leaves his "approved zone" and heads toward an
"exclusion zone," an alarm will go off, alerting probation. The
bracelet also will beep and vibrate, as probation calls the offender
who is breaking the conditions of his release.
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