I attended a conference on GPS and Crime Traxx

[Busa_05]

I really can't imagine being a sex offender in Florida. As I understood it from one of the speakers, who is attached to a Sheriff's Office in...?...Ahhhh, I don't remember the County, but he's from Miami...all persons convicted of a sex offense in Florida are now subject to LIFETIME GPS monitoring, also, all Law Enforcement in Florida has now come online with Crime Traxx, which is a very, very excellent tool. I hope the legislature here in WI adopts Crime Traxx, I would love it. We use the GPS now, but not ALL sex offenses are eligible.

The GPS is system isn't flawless, but it is cool to watch the map and see the individual GPS units tracked. Aside from the three sattelites used to triangulate the cooridinates of the unit, a fourth sattelite tracks direction and speed. So you can watch the person travel and see how fast they are traveling. The units used in law enforcement are generally presented to be accurate within 16 feet...they showed us a unit used for military purposes, which was accurate to within a meter of the cooridinates indicated. Unfortunately we don't get to use those.

Very cool stuff, though. Hopefully Wisconsin wakes up and moves back from hugs and pats on the back to restorative justice, victim rights (not offender rights), and public proctection from sex offenders through proactive meausures.

 

[adrenaline junkey]

very cool but how easy would it be to foil the gps transmition?

 

[Busa_05]

very cool but how easy would it be to foil the gps transmition?

Yeah, that in part is one of the areas that is not fool proof. Apparently you can wrap the unit itself in tin foil to block the transmition from the anklet to the unit and from the unit to the sattelites; however, the units have motion sensors inside them. So you can see if there is not signal being sent and the unit is static, or if it is in motion, but the points cannot be sent to a signal blockage. Signals are transmitted from the anklets to the units and the units to the sattelites every 15 seconds. If the unit doesn't send or receive signals fro 15 seconds, when you are logged in online you can see the message that there is no signal. The unit will still continue to collect coordinate points, but cannot send them due to the blockage. So you will see the last point the guy was at prior to the signal being blocked.

Essentially, an offender can take off the anklet and leave the unit and all behind if he is so inclined. Tampering with the bracelet or unit in anyway will be seen by the officer online, and will/must be dealt with immediately at that time.

 

[adrenaline junkey]

well im sure its a good idea there is just some room for an impovement as with any new things too bad there isnt some way to make imposible to block signal