MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Tennessee State Rep. G.A. Hardaway said he is proposing a new plan to keep up with repeat offenders who are out on bail: GPS monitoring.
Hardaway (D-Memphis) wants the law to require the use of GPS monitors for defendants released on cash bonds.
He said law enforcement authorities have supported the idea, citing an example where an offender wearing a GPS monitor was unable to meet his drug dealer because he was being tracked.
“If we have young folks or young adults who are committing crime while out on bail, they ought to have a GPS. We don’t need a promise that you’re going to be in a house under house arrest. We don’t need your promise that you’re going to be in the house after a certain hour,” said Hardaway. “We’ve got to use technology in order to keep these repeat offenders or those who initially commit these heinous crimes… they are community terrorists. We need to call them what they are, and we need to treat them like who they are.”
Hardaway suggests that judges can currently do this voluntarily, but critics argue they require funding from the county commission to approve it.
Hardaway said the county or state should establish a fund to assist those who cannot afford the GPS monitoring system.