10 May How GPS Trackers Save Taxpayer Dollars
When most people think about GPS, they automatically think of vehicles. The truth is that there are lots of different ways GPS technology can be used. A perfect example of this is using GPS trackers on individuals who have been released on bail.
Bail is a great thing. People can use it to be released from jail while they wait for the court system to handle their criminal cases. Being released on bail means that the individual is free to work, pay bills, and generate revenue for the IRS. If the person hadn’t been released on bail they would have been draining taxpayer dollars rather than contributing.
The problem with the bail program is that sometimes someone doesn’t follow the rules. Rather than showing up for their appointed court date, they skip it. This creates big problems. Valuable time and resources are used to locate the individual. Even more alarming is that some bail jumpers can be difficult to apprehend and the agents sent to recover them aren’t always sure about what type of situation they’re entering or how many people are involved.
GPS trackers are the best and most affordable way to make sure this doesn’t happen. No, the GPS monitor doesn’t necessarily mean that the person will make their court date, but it does mean that when they do fail to appear, the tracker will show exactly where they are.
Authorities can use this information to not only locate the individual but to also determine the best possible time to make an apprehension. For example, instead of having to go into a home to make an apprehension, the recovery agent can wait until the GPS tracker indicates that the individual is in the yard on driving to work.
Knowing that a GPS tracker can be attached to a person before they’re released on bail should lead to a decrease in the number of times judges decide to deny bail because they’re worried that an individual will be a flight risk. Granting bail to more individuals means less drain on local tax resources.
Another possible advantage connected to using GPS trackers on individuals who are being released on bail is that the GPS tracker should encourage them to follow the rules connected to their bail agreement. Knowing that all of their movement will be monitored, should discourage the individual from breaking the rules they were given when they were released. Rules they’ll likely be careful about include not leaving the area, not interacting with certain people, and not breaking any laws while they’re out on bail.