Local lawmakers support a proposal to keep a closer eye on certain registered sex offenders in Pennsylvania by outfitting them with monitoring devices, but some say the cost would be prohibitive.
Auditor General Jack Wagner is urging the state Legislature to require convicted sex offenders who don't comply with the Megan's Law registry to wear global positioning satellite devices for at least five years to track their movements.
He also wants sexually violent offenders to wear the tracking devices as soon as they are released from jail.
Legislation will be introduced this year regarding GPS monitoring of sexual predators who don't conform with the law. According to Wagner, the state has lost track of about 930 of the 9,000 registered sex offenders.
"I think there's strong support for it," said state Rep. Merle Phillips, R-108 of RR2 Sunbury. "I don't think there's any question about it. I know the public want their children protected."
Rep. Russell Fairchild, R-85 of Lewisburg, said he would like to take a close look at the proposals.
"GPS could an extremely useful tool," he said, but added that it may be most appropriate to use the technology to monitor the whereabouts of sexually violent predators.
"I'm generally supportive," said Sen. John Gordner, R-27 of Berwick, who in 2006 proposed legislation to give the courts the option of placing offenders who violate protection of abuse orders on GPS monitoring.
Gordner said he sees the benefit of placing sexually violent predators on a tracking device.
"The risk of recidivism (among violent sex predators) is over 60 percent. They're attacking the innocence of children," he said.
There have been at least three reports in Northumberland County in the past two weeks of outdated addresses on the Megan's Law registry Web site because offenders aren't complying with the law.
On Thursday, Coal Township Police Chief William Carpenter said charges are pending and an arrest warrant will be sought for an offender who has failed to register with state police for three years.
Proponents of GPS tracking say it will be self-funded, similar to a program in Northumberland County where certain offenders pay a $50 hook-up fee and $450 a month to be monitored by GPS equipment.
Northumberland County Adult Probation Chief John Wondoloski said the tracking program has been successful and offenders who can't afford to pay for it up front are put on a payment schedule.
Skeptics, such as Rick Attivo, legal assistant with the Megan's Law section of the state police, expect there will be a price to pay.
"We can't even get some of these guys to come in and register, and that's free," he said.
It's up to legislators to decide if Megan's Law needs to be expanded, but Sgt. Randy Devine, of the state police at Stonington, said right now the law is a registry and not a tracking system. "I remind people that they might know where a registered sex offender lives, but you don't always know where they are," he said.
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Plan to track sex offenders gets support
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