If you’ve read many posts on this blog, we often post about the benefits of GPS ankle bracelets for people at risk for wandering away or becoming the victim of exploitation or violence. Here’s a great story about how a GPS tracking wrist bracelet aided authorities in locating a mentally disabled man who had wondered away from home.
As a part of Project Lifesaver, a program launched by the Sarasota Police Department several years ago, the disabled man is one of 75 people considered at risk for wandering provided with GPS tracking bracelets. Participants include adults with dementia and other disabilities as well as children with autism and Down’s Syndrome.
The rescued man was safely recovered near Caspersen Beach, approximately two miles from his home. Authorities partially credit the use of the GPS tracking device for saving the man’s life, as it allowed them to locate him before the tide came in, which the man likely would not have survived.
According to a recent CBS news report, a California senate bill, SB57, requires sex offenders who remove or tamper with their GPS tracking devices to spend a mandatory 6-months in jail. The bill comes in response to the increase in monitoring of the state’s offenders via GPS due to a law passed two years ago to relieve prison overpopulation, which was designed to send offenders to jail instead of prison. But, due to overcrowding in jails as well, some offenders spend little or no time behind bars, and instead are released to home and monitored via GPS tracking bracelets.