Cabell
County alternative
sentencing uses a system produced by a company called SecureAlert based in Utah. The system uses
ankle bracelets that are GPS enabled through a Google mapping system.
Unlike the old ankle bracelets which used a
standard phone line and only reported the time the defendants left the house
for work and returned, the new GPS bracelets provide much more information.
Dave Zirkle is a Cabell County Home Confinement
officer. He says the new system lets him track the defendants’ every move.
“Say if your had a GPS transmitter on, I can track
your movements throughout the day,” said Zirkle. “If you were to stop anywhere
for a long period of time that you’re not scheduled to stop I can pull it up in
the computer, go to the mapping program and actually pull up a physical picture
of where you’d be at,” he said.
The GPS bracelets are in use by nine defendants awaiting
trial in Cabell County. They are charged with
solicitation of minors, sexual abuse, sexual assault and robbery.
The county has a total of 13 bracelets for use in
their home confinement program.
Zirkle says the defendants have to request
permission to leave their home for any reason including work. That information
is programmed into the system.
Zirkle says they can also program other things
into the system such has restricted areas where the defendant shouldn’t be. If
they enter those areas, the authorities have the ability to set off an alarm.
“All it takes is simply me going on to any
computer, logging into the system and activating a siren,” Zirkle said.
Authorities say the GPS ankle bracelets have proven
successful during their first 14 months of use in Cabell County.
“We’ve had very good results with it,” said Vickie
Mullins, Cabell County Home Confinement officer.
“GPS comes in handy where most people are going
with their cell phones. As long as we have cell phone service, GPS is the way to
go,” Mullins said.
Zirkle agrees the only limitation with the new system
can be a lack of strong cell phone coverage in some areas. So high risk
defendants wear the new and old devices.
“They may have very limited cellular coverage to
where we can’t get a signal from them, but once they leave the house our old
equipment alerts and says they’ve left the house and say they’re going to work
in the community, once they get into cellular coverage the device itself will
download all the movements prerecorded,” Zirkle said.
Zirkle says the bracelets are a huge step in the
right direction. He says it makes the home confinement officer’s job easier by
tracking their exact movements.
“You know there is no way for a person to say that
I wasn’t there, this is where your transmitter says you were and this is where
I found you,” Zirkle said.
Cabell County Home Confinement leases the devices. Officials
say the cost of tracking equipment is off-set by the $1.37 million Cabell County
saved by not having to house these defendants.