For defendants awaiting trial in Massachusetts it is, along with bail, a ticket to freedom. GPS monitoring devices allow for the remote enforcement of court orders, such as curfews and restraining orders.
It would naturally follow that removing a GPS device should amount to a serious offense. But in Massachusetts, that is not necessarily the case.
“We have a public safety problem right now because it is not a specific crime to cut off a GPS device or to tamper with one,” said State Rep. David Linsky (D-Natick). “Technically, it is a misdemeanor right now. What’s called malicious destruction of property.”
Linsky said that puts it on par with such things as defacement with graffiti or breaking a mailbox. Although some ‘malicious destruction’ offenses do trigger fines and even possible jail time, if they rise to a certain monetary level. But Linsky said arresting someone for a GPS offense involves a cumbersome process.
“A probation officer has to seek a warrant,” he said. “They have to go before the court. Police have to make an arrest and bring the defendant before the court.”
Linsky favors a bill that would make GPS tampering its own offense -- one punishable by jail time.
“If it was a separate crime, and if it was an arrestable offense, a police officer could do it much quicker,” he said. “This bill would protect victims, it would protect witnesses and, quite frankly, it needs to be done to protect the integrity of the judicial system.”
The bill in question is currently stuck in the Judiciary Committee. But Wednesday, as the House and Senate entered the final week of an official session, one woman was trying to get the bill moving.
“Jo,” as she prefers to be known, started working on GPS legislation more than four years ago -- after ending an abusive relationship.
“Right now, it is not a crime to let the battery die or to cut the GPS off,” she said. “My abuser cut his off and went unpunished. I know firsthand how scary that is and how it threatened my safety.”
Jo left her abuser after about 18 months.
‘”I was in what I thought was a loving relationship,” she said. “But he assaulted me a couple of times and emotionally also abused me. He was on probation and he assaulted me for the second time and just wouldn’t leave me alone.”
He also violated a restraining order.
“So then a judge finally ordered GPS monitoring,” Jo said. “And they’re told not to take it off. Again, when they do, nothing happens. It puts victims and their families at higher risk.”
Jo said her ex cut the device off with pliers in a parking lot at Logan International Airport. When he faced a judge, Jo said he blamed TSA.
“I’ve talked to so many people and everybody thinks well, if somebody has a GPS on and they cut it off or tamper with it, of course they should go to jail,” Jo said. “They were given yet another chance not to go to jail by getting that GPS on. So if they cut if off that’s where they should go.”
Wednesday, Jo and a fellow domestic abuse survivor, handed out one-page flyers promoting the bill as lawmakers entered house chambers for the final week of an official session.
“I think there are too many lawmakers out there who want to give the abusers way too many chances,” she said. “Not only do victims live a life of fear, they’re killed, they’re murdered, they’re raped. It’s horrible.”
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