Geneva, Illinois: Kane County officials gathered Monday, May
11 in the Kane County Judicial Center to discuss the newly implemented
technology of the Bischof Law. Named after Cindy Bischof, an
Arlington Heights woman who was shot to death in 2008 by her
ex-boyfriend after he had broken a restraining order more than once –
the law makes it possible to track offenders, after a risk assessment
and approval of the court, with a GPS bracelet and real-time tracking.
The
law, which took effect Jan. 1, was made to help provide victims of
domestic violence with a warning of possible physical harm. The GPS
unit allows officers to know where offenders have been and if they have
broken the exclusionary zone in the restraining order. If an
exclusionary zone is impeded, officials said Kane County will be
notified immediately and will be able to see exactly where the offender
is and has been.
F. Keith Brown, chief judge of the 16th Judicial Circuit Court, Brown said he hopes the system will have a “dog shock collar” effect, in that as the system becomes more prevalent, offenders will learn not to enter restricted zones.
Twelve other states have passed similar legislation — most recently,
Indiana this week — and about 5,000 domestic abusers are being tracked
nationwide, said George Drake, who oversees Colorado’s Electronic
Monitoring Resource Center, which gathers data from equipment vendors.
“Using GPS monitoring to enforce an order of protection makes the order more than just a piece of paper,” said Diane Rosenfeld, a lecturer at Harvard Law School and a longtime advocate of using GPS in domestic abuse cases. “It’s
a way of making the criminal justice system treat domestic violence as
potentially serious. By detecting any escalation in the behavior of a
batterer, GPS can prevent these unnecessary tragedies.”
But the path to the system’s widespread use has been bumpy. It is
still hard to protect families who live in rural areas or where there
are not enough police officers to respond quickly. With the economic
downturn, states have cut money for training the police and judges in
GPS use, and some places with legislation in place say they cannot
afford it. It is up to a judge, in cases of extreme violence, to decide
whether to order its use before trial, as a condition of bail or as a
sentence.
But for now, the GPS monitoring system seems to be the only silver
lining in a violent cloud reeking of beatings, death threats and
stalking. As Theresa, a 51-year-old mother of two living near
NEWBURYPORT, Massachusetts said, “My husband violated the
restraining order three times. He’d come to our child’s school and beat
both of us up in front of everyone." A judge ordered Joel, her
husband to wear a Global Positioning System monitor, alerting law
enforcement officials if he went near his wife’s house, her work or
their children’s school.
“It was the first time I could turn my house alarm off and feel O.K.,” said Theresa.
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