Schwarzenegger wants state to track paroled gang members

CBS 5 SAN FRANCISCO ^ | 25 MAY 2007 | AP

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- California will begin monitoring leaders of street gangs the way it does sex offenders, including tracking them by satellite, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Friday.

Selected gang leaders will be required to wear global positioning system bracelets after they are released from prison, the governor said.

Schwarzenegger said he also wants to require gang members to register with local police when they move into a community after their release from prison.

``The worst of the worst will get GPS bracelets so we will know where they are and what they are doing,'' Schwarzenegger said during a news conference in Oakland.

Monitoring sex offenders lasts a lifetime under the Jessica's Law initiative passed by voters in November, but the gang restrictions would be in effect only while the gang members are on parole.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has been experimenting for a year by using GPS units to track paroled gang leaders in San Bernardino. The department will begin similar programs in Fresno, Los Angeles and Sacramento, the governor said.

In addition, parolees deemed most likely to fall back into the gang life will have limits placed on their contacts with children and with other gang members. Police will be notified when gang leaders are paroled, just as they are now when sex offenders are freed.

The governor's revised budget, submitted to lawmakers last week, is seeking $48 million in state and federal money for more intensive tracking of gang leaders in prisons and communities, as well as for intervention programs, job training and education.

He also plans to appoint a statewide coordinator to oversee the programs and seek funding.

``The state must coordinate the fight against gangs, because if you crack down on gangs in one area, they pop up someplace else,'' Schwarzenegger said in a news conference that was broadcast on his Web site. ``We are basically telling the criminals that the crackdown on them will not stop at the city limits.''

With the governor's plan for increased monitoring, California might need to hire more parole agents, said Ryan Sherman, a spokesman for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association.

``As long as they provide necessary staff to go along with their proposal and it doesn't include increased workload for the parole agents, I don't know that our association would have a lot of heartburn over it,'' Sherman said. ``It may be good public policy.''

Connie Rice, co-director of the Advancement Project, which recently completed a gang report for the Los Angeles City Council, released a letter supporting the gang prevention and intervention programs in the governor's proposal. But she warned that a law enforcement crackdown isn't enough.

Schwarzenegger agreed, noting that he supported after-school programs long before becoming governor.

[Clint Williams]

but the gang restrictions would be in effect only while the gang members are on parole.

That's stupid. The minute they're off parole, they're no longer gang members??

20 years post-release. Life if they re-offend.

[garyhope]

Why not just kill em and save the time and money?

S’OK with me.

Pardon my lack of compassion and “feelin’s”

[rellimpank]

--what was the movie AAAhhhnnnnooollld was in where part of the prison security was a collar which removed the head of anyone stepping out of bounds?--That sounds good to me---

[backtothestreets]

I understand the intent, BUT ... The worst gang leaders are those that remain in one place and send their gang members to go about the dirty work.

Would be better served if the conviction of a gang leader were a felony conviction of the entire gang, and place the GPS units on all the members. This way anytime two or more are located in the same place at the same time, it would be an automatic violation of the parole stipulation prohibiting parolees from being with other parolees, with the lone exception of when required by law enforcement.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

what was the movie AAAhhhnnnnooollld was in where part of the prison security was a collar which removed the head of anyone stepping out of bounds?

I believe that was an HBO movie called "Deadlock", which starred Rutger Hauer. RINOld wasn't in it.

[CAWats]

Just keep them in prison forever.

[camas]

good, very good idea. it is a start.

[Axenolith]

These ideas are stupid, as was Jessicas law. If you feel the criminal is still a threat to society they should either be locked up for life\til old age, or killed, period.

Any other alternative is allowing government and touchy feely types to experiment with policies in which we the lawfull citizens lose when they fail (and they do way more often than not).

There's already been a few fairly high profile instances where child predators have been released with monitoring provisions and they subsequently killed. Great, an "Oh, wow, it worked and we caught them", after they killed a little kid incident...

If there's a perceived need to monitor, then they're to much of a risk to release into society.