CFC OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma Lawmaker Wants Sex Offenders To Wear Tracking Devices
How, exactly, is this supposed to be keeping children safe?

sosen.stormnow.net/index.php?option=com_...he-news&Itemid=7

Oklahoma Senator Dan Newberry is trying to get all Tier 2 and Tier 3 registered sex offenders to wear GPS tracking units. He thinks it will actually protect children, and make things easier for law enforcement to catch someone who has abducted a child. He also says that putting GPS units on offenders would eliminate the headache and “lots of dollars” spent trying to keep track of offenders now. But in fact, everything he is doing is going to cause more problems: for law enforcement, for the state budget, for the state's reputation, and for its children!


Law enforcement staff are limited, and the huge increase in monitoring needed will put a severe strain on an already-strained force. Only a fraction of one percent of Oklahoma's registered offenders have been classified as actually dangerous, while a total of roughly 4% are being monitored “just in case.” Making law enforcement track roughly another ___% (the number of Tier 2 and Tier 3 offenders who would be added) will seriously reduce the amount of time officers can spend keeping an eye on those most-dangerous folks. How is spreading the police so thinly helping children?


Even in this article, one person is fearful that this law will be “very costly to maintain.” Having registered offenders pay for the monitoring is barely the tip of the iceberg in terms of man-hours needed to actually keep the system running, not to mention the cost of individual and class-action lawsuits that are certain to be filed by former offenders affected by this unconstitutional, ex post facto legislation. How does wasting taxpayer money help children?


Oklahoma will be watched closely as it considers this law.
View the full article here:
www.4029tv.com/mostpopular/22309722/detail.html