Many states and localities have been using various non-satellite electronic monitoring devices to keep track of lower-risk felons for years. The Governor of Illinois recently signed a measure into law that allows authorities to track convicted domestic violence offenders via satellite using GPS technology. Authorities are alerted when abusers enter survivor-designated safe zones. With electronic monitoring devices, the location of a person can continually be monitored. Proponents of this system declare that it reduces jail crowding and financial burden on taxpayers, and also allows offenders to keep their jobs. It has even been proposed that the federal government put electronic ankle bracelets on illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. Automated license plate recognition systems (ALPR) have enabled officers to identify stolen vehicles and to also track vehicles involved in kidnappings and hit-and-runs. When combining ALPR units with GPS, the system can track things as simple as which cars have been parked for more than the permitted time period. As an investigative tool, the ability to track vehicles and connect them to crimes has unlimited potential. GIS Public agencies use GIS extensively to fulfill their own directives and to make themselves more efficient. However, this use of technology has also brought new problems because it creates an extraordinary demand for information from public agencies. Under the well known belief that a democratic society requires an informed citizenry, the Freedom of Information Act dictates that public agencies open their records to the public. Considerations such as national security and privacy rights create some exceptions to the law, but federal agencies must allow private citizens to see most of the information held in their extensive files. These laws are meant to lessen the possibility that the government
Many states and localities have been using various non-satellite electronic monitoring devices to keep track of lower-risk felons for years. The Governor of Illinois recently signed a measure into law that allows authorities to track convicted domestic violence offenders via satellite using GPS technology. Authorities are alerted when abusers enter survivor-designated safe zones. With electronic monitoring devices, the location of a person can continually be monitored. Proponents of this system declare that it reduces jail crowding and financial burden on taxpayers, and also allows offenders to keep their jobs. It has even been proposed that the federal government put electronic ankle bracelets on illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. Automated license plate recognition systems (ALPR) have enabled officers to identify stolen vehicles and to also track vehicles involved in kidnappings and hit-and-runs. When combining ALPR units with GPS, the system can track things as simple as which cars have been parked for more than the permitted time period. As an investigative tool, the ability to track vehicles and connect them to crimes has unlimited potential. GIS Public agencies use GIS extensively to fulfill their own directives and to make themselves more efficient. However, this use of technology has also brought new problems because it creates an extraordinary demand for information from public agencies. Under the well known belief that a democratic society requires an informed citizenry, the Freedom of Information Act dictates that public agencies open their records to the public. Considerations such as national security and privacy rights create some exceptions to the law, but federal agencies must allow private citizens to see most of the information held in their extensive files. These laws are meant to lessen the possibility that the government
GISandPrivacyFinalPaper.docx