Codey Discusses Proposal to Monitor Sex Offenders

(TRENTON) –Acting Governor Richard J. Codey today discussed the need to use Global Positioning System technology in the fight to protect children from sex offenders.

“There is no greater priority than the safety of our children.” Codey said. “That is why we must do everything possible to keep our children safe from sexual predators – just as we are taking unprecedented steps to protect our children and schools safe from terrorism.

“GPS technology would let officers know with certainty whether these individuals are actually going to work, whether they are staying home at night, or whether they are in places that, frankly, they shouldn’t be,” Codey said. “Today’s children are growing up in a different world than the one we grew up in. Unfortunately, there are new dangers. There are also new advantages. Criminals may try to stay ahead of the law. But we are smarter. We are better. And we are using every resource to keep our children safe.”

Codey was joined by Attorney General Peter C. Harvey, Senators Stephen M. Sweeney and Fred H. Madden, and Assembly members Linda R. Greenstein, Douglas H. Fisher and Peter J. Barnes for a news conference in the Governor’s Outer Office.

The legislators have proposed bills that would create a program under which certain sex offenders would be required to wear devices connected to GPS equipment.

GPS monitoring includes equipment that communicates with overhead satellites to determine the equipment’s precise location on the earth. Under this program, GPS devices worn by sex offenders would continually record and update their location, to provide accurate tracking of where the person is and where he or she has been.

Codey pointed out that this would let law enforcement officials keep a closer eye than ever on sexual predators. It would even let officials compare the subjects’ movements with new crime reports – to determine whether the person may be linked to a crime, or whether the person should be excluded from the ongoing investigation.