Channel 4 News | Milwaukee

Tracking Sex Offenders with GPS

Rob Lowry

WICHITA, Kan. - Tracking sex offenders would be easier if they had to wear GPS monitors. But that can be expensive.

Wisconsin lawmakers have traveled to Kansas to find out about a GPS program there. The I-Team's John Mercure went with them. He found that Kansas monitors the same amount of offenders we have in Wisconsin with a much smaller budget.

It costs Kansas $1.2 million annually to track 300 sex offenders by GPS. Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle's office claims it would cost the state $10 million to monitor 300 offenders here. Doyle signed a GPS bill to protect Wisconsin children. Now he's threatening to gut the bill by cutting the spending and limiting who gets monitored.

Wisconsin Reps. Joel Kleefish, Jeff Stone and Scott Suder came to Kansas to study its GPS system. The biggest reason GPS is affordable is because Kansas outsources the monitoring. Only nine new state workers had to be hired.

The Wisconsin Department of Corrections claims 120 new workers are necessary and they won't hire an outside company that would save millions. The governor claims letting the DOC run it is the best option.

"We can do this cheaper, we can do it better, and we can make our communities safer," Stone said. "You would have to be a fiscal imbecile to not use this type of technology to keep our community safe."

"We've heard from the Pentagon and parole agents here in Kansas. They prefer this type of system. They don't want to do everything in house. It would cost them time, effort and energy," said Suder.

Kansas officials have found a financially viable way to protect children. And when legislators and Gov. Doyle agreed on a bill last year, it appeared Wisconsin had as well. Now the governor appears ready to strip down the bill he initially approved.

A Doyle spokesman said the governor plans to add provisions for more treatment beds for sex offenders, but he did concede that under the governor's plan fewer sex offenders will be monitored.

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