Σύμφωνα με έρευνα που πραγματοποιήθηκε τον Φεβρουάριο του 2013 από
την εφημερίδα Los Angeles Times, χιλιάδες εγκληματίες σεξουαλικών
εγκλημάτων που έχουν αφεθεί προσωρινά ελεύθεροι με περιοριστικά μέτρα ή
έχουν αποφυλακιστεί, αφαιρούν ή απενεργοποιούν τις συσκευές εντοπισμού, οι οποίες τοποθετούνται σε αυτούς βάσει νόμου.
Η Καλιφόρνια είναι μια από τις 24 πολιτείες της Αμερικής, η οποία έχει ενταχθεί στο πρόγραμμα παρακολούθησης εγκληματιών με συσκευές GPS από το 2008.
Πριν από έναν χρόνο, η Καλιφόρνια ξεκίνησε την διεξαγωγή έρευνας και
ελέγχου των συσκευών που έχουν τοποθετηθεί σε περισσότερους από 8.000
εγκληματίες.
Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας, οι συσκευές 3Μ που
χρησιμοποιούνταν για την παρακολούθηση των εγκληματιών, ήταν σε μεγάλο
βαθμό ανακριβείς και αναξιόπιστες, με αποτέλεσμα την έκθεση της δημόσιας
ασφάλειας σε άμεσο κίνδυνο. Οι κρατικοί υπάλληλοι διέταξαν την μαζική
αντικατάσταση των συσκευών εντοπισμού της 3M με τα προϊόντα STOP.
Η Los Angeles Times έφερε στο φώς τα στοιχεία της έρευνας τα οποία
είχαν σκόπιμα αποκρυφτεί, καθώς σύμφωνα με κρατικούς αξιωματούχους, η
δημοσιοποίηση των πληροφοριών αυτών θα είχε ανεπιθύμητες επιπτώσεις,
όπως την ενημέρωση των πιθανών παραβατών σχετικά με τις ευπάθειες των
συσκευών παρακολούθησης καθώς και την ρήξη της εμπιστοσύνης των πολιτών,
έναντι του συστήματος.
Thousands of paroled CA sex offenders, felons easily disable GPS monitors
Similar problems nationwide: recently, a NY-man removed his anklet in 60 seconds.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/thousands-of-paroled-ca-sex-offenders-felons-easily-disable-gps-monitors/
Tests found major flaws in parolee GPS monitoring devices
One company's devices were deemed so unreliable that California ordered a complete switch to another firm's, citing 'imminent danger' to the public. A lawsuit ensued.
One company's devices were deemed so unreliable that California ordered a complete switch to another firm's, citing 'imminent danger' to the public. A lawsuit ensued.
A
little more than a year ago, California quietly began conducting tests
on the GPS monitoring devices that track the movements of thousands of
sex offenders.
The results were alarming.
Corrections
officials found the devices used in half the state were so inaccurate
and unreliable that the public was "in imminent danger."
Batteries died early, cases cracked, reported locations were off by as
much as three miles. Officials also found that tampering alerts failed
and offenders were able to disappear by covering the devices with foil,
deploying illegal GPS jammers or ducking into cars or buildings.
The state abruptly ordered parole agents to remove every ankle monitor in use from north of Los Angeles to the Oregon border. In their place, they strapped on devices made by a different manufacturer — a mass migration that left California's criminal tracking system not operational for several hours.
The test results provide a glimpse of the blind spots in electronic monitoring, even as those systems are promoted to law enforcement agencies as a safe alternative to incarceration. The flaws in the equipment raise the question of whether the state can deliver what Jessica's Law promised when voters approved it in 2006: round-the-clock tracking of serious sex offenders.
In a lawsuit over the state's GPS contracting, corrections attorneys persuaded a judge to seal information about the failures, arguing that test results could show criminals how to avoid being tracked and give parole violators grounds to appeal convictions.
The information, they warned, would "erode public trust" in electronic monitoring programs. The devices, they said, deter crime only if offenders believe their locations are being tracked every minute.
"The more reliable the devices are believed to be, the less likely a parolee may be to attempt to defeat the system," GPS program director Denise Milano wrote in a court statement.
State officials say the replacement devices have largely resolved the problems, but officials so far have refused to release test data showing what, if any, improvements were gained.
Through interviews and by comparing censored documents obtained from multiple sources, The Times was able to piece together most of what the state persuaded the courts to black out.
GPS tracking devices are designed to alert authorities if the wearer tampers with the device, tries to flee or strays too close to a school or other forbidden area. Currently, 7,900 high-risk California parolees and felons — most of them sex offenders or gang members — wear the devices strapped to their ankles.
The monitors work by picking up signals from GPS satellites and transmitting the location information by cellular networks to a central computer. Just like GPS devices used by drivers or hikers, the monitors can fail where buildings block signals or where cell reception is spotty.
The state abruptly ordered parole agents to remove every ankle monitor in use from north of Los Angeles to the Oregon border. In their place, they strapped on devices made by a different manufacturer — a mass migration that left California's criminal tracking system not operational for several hours.
The test results provide a glimpse of the blind spots in electronic monitoring, even as those systems are promoted to law enforcement agencies as a safe alternative to incarceration. The flaws in the equipment raise the question of whether the state can deliver what Jessica's Law promised when voters approved it in 2006: round-the-clock tracking of serious sex offenders.
In a lawsuit over the state's GPS contracting, corrections attorneys persuaded a judge to seal information about the failures, arguing that test results could show criminals how to avoid being tracked and give parole violators grounds to appeal convictions.
The information, they warned, would "erode public trust" in electronic monitoring programs. The devices, they said, deter crime only if offenders believe their locations are being tracked every minute.
"The more reliable the devices are believed to be, the less likely a parolee may be to attempt to defeat the system," GPS program director Denise Milano wrote in a court statement.
State officials say the replacement devices have largely resolved the problems, but officials so far have refused to release test data showing what, if any, improvements were gained.
Through interviews and by comparing censored documents obtained from multiple sources, The Times was able to piece together most of what the state persuaded the courts to black out.
GPS tracking devices are designed to alert authorities if the wearer tampers with the device, tries to flee or strays too close to a school or other forbidden area. Currently, 7,900 high-risk California parolees and felons — most of them sex offenders or gang members — wear the devices strapped to their ankles.
The monitors work by picking up signals from GPS satellites and transmitting the location information by cellular networks to a central computer. Just like GPS devices used by drivers or hikers, the monitors can fail where buildings block signals or where cell reception is spotty.
But that is not the monitoring system's sole vulnerability: A Times investigation
in February found that thousands of child molesters, rapists and other
high-risk parolees were removing or disarming their tracking devices —
often with little risk of serving time for it because California's jails
are too full to hold them.
The state's testing was conducted as part of a winner-take-all contest for the nation's largest electronic monitoring contract, worth more than $51 million over six years. Industry experts said they were the most exhaustive field trials they had seen.
When statewide monitoring began in 2008, California split the work between a division of 3M Co. and Houston-based Satellite Tracking of People, or STOP. The 3M device was used to track some 4,000 parolees in all but six Southern California counties. STOP had the rest of the state, including Los Angeles.
When California later sought to switch to a single provider, 3M came in with the low bid.
For a week in late 2011, parole agents abused both companies' devices. They were dropped four feet onto concrete, wrapped in foil to block their signals and submerged as long as three hours in a swimming pool. Testers allowed batteries to run dead, cut ankle straps and traveled into areas beyond the reach of satellite and cellular phone signals.
Without revealing full details of the tests, officials declared 3M's devices so faulty that the state rejected the company's bid. When 3M protested, Milano began a second round of tests that she said showed 3M's ankle monitors posed a public safety emergency.
The state claimed that 3M's devices failed to meet 46 of 102 field-tested standards for the equipment, although the company said a fourth of the failures occurred because the state had not provided the phone numbers needed to send automated text alerts.
One agent who participated in the tests, Denise LeBard, said in a court statement that 3M's ankle monitors were "inundated with defects."
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/30/local/la-me-ff-gps-monitors-20130331
The state's testing was conducted as part of a winner-take-all contest for the nation's largest electronic monitoring contract, worth more than $51 million over six years. Industry experts said they were the most exhaustive field trials they had seen.
When statewide monitoring began in 2008, California split the work between a division of 3M Co. and Houston-based Satellite Tracking of People, or STOP. The 3M device was used to track some 4,000 parolees in all but six Southern California counties. STOP had the rest of the state, including Los Angeles.
When California later sought to switch to a single provider, 3M came in with the low bid.
For a week in late 2011, parole agents abused both companies' devices. They were dropped four feet onto concrete, wrapped in foil to block their signals and submerged as long as three hours in a swimming pool. Testers allowed batteries to run dead, cut ankle straps and traveled into areas beyond the reach of satellite and cellular phone signals.
Without revealing full details of the tests, officials declared 3M's devices so faulty that the state rejected the company's bid. When 3M protested, Milano began a second round of tests that she said showed 3M's ankle monitors posed a public safety emergency.
The state claimed that 3M's devices failed to meet 46 of 102 field-tested standards for the equipment, although the company said a fourth of the failures occurred because the state had not provided the phone numbers needed to send automated text alerts.
One agent who participated in the tests, Denise LeBard, said in a court statement that 3M's ankle monitors were "inundated with defects."
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/30/local/la-me-ff-gps-monitors-20130331
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