California Conservative

SiliconValley.com reports: “Satellite tracking technology, a staple of weather forecasting and military operations for decades, is the latest tool California can use to ease its overburdened parole and probation system under legislation signed Tuesday by Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

The bill, written by Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, clears the way for the state and its counties to continuously monitor the location of people on probation or parole by using global positioning system (GPS) devices.

Although expensive — the cost runs close to $9 a day for each person tracked — widespread use of the GPS system could dramatically reduce repeat criminal offenses and in turn save the state as much as $1 billion a year.

“It’s important to note that the system works,” said Speier, who cited Florida as an example. Repeat offenses of GPS-monitored parolees in that state dropped by 50 percent, Speier said.

Mark this moment as one of those rare examples when we can agree with a Democrat. Kudos to both Sen. Speier for introducing and Gov. Schwarzenegger for signing this important bill.

Regrettably, with something so sensible and effective in security and crime prevention, we can only wonder: Where’s the ACLU to fight it?

Oh, yeah, here it is:

Both the American Civil Liberties Union and the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice fought Speier’s bill. The attorneys association said GPS needs more study because it raises ethical and privacy issues.

But Speier dismissed the cost and privacy concerns. The expenses of housing an inmate at a state prison, about $90 a day, far exceeds the cost of GPS monitoring, she said.

“When you are on parole or probation you are still under the control of the state, you are not a free citizen,” Speier said, “and you do not have the same rights and privileges.”

A very approving nod to Sen. Speier.

If only more of her liberal colleagues would have this understanding of limited “right and priviledges” for lawbreakers.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 5th, 2005 at 6:00 pm and is filed under Arnold, California, Crime, Domestic Policies, Law, Sacramento. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.