Pilot project for tracking sex offenders under way

Since the effort went live three months ago, bracelets affixed to the offenders’ ankles generated 16 violations and one revoked parole by Nov. 15, according to information provided to a joint legislative committee on corrections on Tuesday.

The program “does not solve the problem of the sex offender who is going to go out and do it ? it’s not a treatment tool,” Correction Commissioner George Little said. “But it might give us a sign of some things people might do before they violate.”

Lawmakers appropriated $2.5 million to set up the project to make sex offenders ? as well as other violent offenders ? wear an ankle bracelet that uses a global positioning system to track their every move.

The bracelets alert law enforcement officials if offenders have strayed into a restricted zone, such as a school yard or playground, and sets off an immediate alarm if it’s removed.

Rep. Rob Briley, D-Nashville, warned that the program may be challenged on due process grounds ? why some offenders are subject to the new system while other aren’t.

More than 5,100 people have been added to Tennessee’s online sex offender registry since Aug. 1, 2004.

Little said administrators have been pleased with the services of Omaha, Neb.-based iSECUREtrac Corp., the GPS monitoring vendor. The project had previously been delayed by difficulties in selecting a contractor.

The tracking technology was first used in Florida in the late 1990s and since has spread to several other states.

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On the Net:

Tennessee Sex Offender Registry: http://www.ticic.state.tn.us