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GPS Tracking Device for KY offenders

By Becky Graham - bio | email | Twitter
Posted by Kelsey Wheatcroft - email

HENDERSON, KY (WFIE) - Amanda's Law went into effect just two weeks ago in Kentucky.

It calls for GPS tracking devices to be put on people with protective orders against them, but many counties aren't enforcing it.

Henderson County says they like the idea, but, there's no money to pay for it.

The new GPS monitoring device gives law enforcement a handle on the location of the offender, and beyond that, it allows law enforcement to set up what's called an Exclusion Zone.

If the Exclusion Zone is breached, the proper authorities are immediately drawn to the matter.

But in many Kentucky counties, the enforcement tool hasn't made it on the radar.

"I don't have a problem with the law," says Sandy Watkins, Henderson Co. Judge Executive. "It was kind of an unfunded mandate that came down to us."

Watkins says that due to lack of state funding, his office has been struggling to keep county programs going, and now that state is asking him and other Judge Executives to take on this cost without assistance, he says money couldn't be tighter.

"If they want to pass a law, the need to put the funding in there to enact they law."

Nevertheless, he has reached out to several vendors to find out the costs

But before he makes any decision, Watkins says the Henderson County Judges have a few more details to hammer out.

"Who gets the monitor and how does the judge determine that."

State officials say one positive of using the tracking device is the cost, which is four to seven dollars a day.

A day in jail is around 31 dollars.

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