Kane County not ready to implement new stalker law
A law designed to stop a repeat occurrence like the murder of an Arlington Heights woman stalked by her ex-boyfriend this past March could not be implemented in Kane County if the law took effect today.
While some counties have simply never used GPS monitoring before, and some, like DuPage, say they're almost ready, other counties are less prepared.
Kane County Court Services staff said Thursday they don't have the equipment, manpower or money as officials gear up to meet the requirements of the new state mandate that hits the books Jan. 1.
The law, referred to by Kane County officials as "the stalker law," allows judges to place defendants charged with violating an order of protection on GPS monitoring from the time they are bailed out of jail all the way to sentencing. There are also mandatory risk evaluations that must be performed on the person accused of stalking.
The idea behind the law is to give law enforcement another tool to monitor the whereabouts of potentially violent stalkers. The accused stalker would also carry a communication device for law enforcement to contact them if the GPS shows they've entered a place they aren't allowed to be, also known as a "red zone." The person under protection would also receive a communication device so he or she could be alerted if the accused stalker is nearby.
State lawmakers passed the "stalker law" just recently after Cindy Bischof, a 43-year-old real estate broker from Arlington Heights, was gunned down by her ex-boyfriend, Michael Giroux, in the parking lot of her Elmhurst workplace. Giroux, 60, had violated Bishof's order of protection against him three times before the murder occurred. He committed suicide after killing Bischof.
Kane County Court Services is in charge of handling the new law. Executive Director Jim Mueller told a county board committee Wednesday there are significant obstacles to hooking stalkers up to GPS systems.
Kane County saw 73 people charged with violating orders of protection from Aug. 1, 2007 to July 31, 2008. Those people spent an average of 157 days in the court system, from their initial court appearance to sentencing. If a judge chose to place all of them on GPS monitoring, a total of nearly 11,500 days, it would have cost the county about $109,000. After sentencing, which is usually probation for longer than a year, it would cost almost another $250,000 to keep those stalkers hooked up to GPS.
That's a total cost of nearly $360,000 the county doesn't have, and it's only one-third of the problem.
That price tag doesn't include any of the communications equipment to contact the potential victim or the offender being tracked if the GPS shows the stalker is in the red zone. Kane County Court Services also can't meet the 24-hour monitoring requirement because it doesn't have any staff working between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., leaving a giant window for potential mayhem.
"We do not have a clue how to cover that," Mueller said.
Hiring more staff to work the overnight shift or having police do it are options, but there's no money for that either.
The law inflicts a $200 fee on the person being monitored. But only $20 of that stays with the county. The rest goes back to the state. The increased costs and potential need for manpower may be a major factor in the court services budget for next year. All departments are working under a hiring freeze and budget cuts. Mueller was already set to cut back on GPS monitoring for defendants who have not been convicted yet in his upcoming budget proposal.
In DuPage County, the budget situation is better and State's Attorney Joe Birkett said he's just begun to plan meetings with the chief judge about how to best implement the GPS units and the high value of having them as a protective tool in domestic violence situations.
DuPage County does not have any GPS tracking or units in use right now. However, the county is one of the few that already uses a less intensive form of electronic monitoring for some domestic violence offenders. Birkett said the GPS system will just provide another way to ensure victims are protected and offenders appear in court when they are supposed to. State funding should provided to help counties with the implementation, but he doesn't expect money to be a major obstacle. DuPage is already in negotiations with a GPS monitoring provider for the units and system.
"DuPage is ahead of the curve," Birkett said. "We will be ready on January 1."