Attorney and rookie Representative Matt Roby (R-5/Watertown) wants to impose a new requirement on people arrested for domestic abuse. Under Rep. Roby’s House Bill 1296, defendants who want to get out of jail while awaiting trial for domestic abuse would have to wear GPS trackers that report their location to the cops and to their alleged victims.
HB 1296’s GPS trackers would transmit constant real-time data. The trackers would send alerts to police and to alleged victims who consent to receive tracker data whenever defendants enter areas where they aren’t supposed to go. The trackers will also shout if the defendants come within a certain distance of their alleged victims.
Defendants would foot the bill for their own surveillance, which could create a legal hitch in HB 1296’s chances for passage. Just last month, Pennington County settled a federal civil rights suit against the county’s policy of making defendants in drug and alcohol cases pay for their own 24-7 sobriety monitoring. Plaintiffs argued they shouldn’t be thrown in jail just because they can’t afford to pay for that punishment. Pennington County agreed to stop jailing or threatening to jail defendants who can’t pay the monitoring fees.
To avoid similar legal trouble, Rep. Roby may need to amend HB 1296 to ensure defendants who can’t afford their GPS trackers, which at the state’s prescribed maximum charge for sobriety monitoring of $10 per day would cost $300 a month, aren’t automatically dragged back to jail.
Jezz a republican bill going after domestic abusers. Who’d a thunk it. It won’t pass of course. It has its downsides but gives some peace of mind to victims.