Kane County slow to start monitoring stalkers
Cindy Bischof would possibly meet the same murderous fate she suffered at the hands of her former boyfriend if she was alive and living in Kane County today.
That's because Kane County is still not in compliance with a new law offering would-be victims more protection from potentially dangerous stalkers.
The new law, named for the slain Arlington Heights woman, hit the books Jan. 1. It requires Illinois courts to offer 24-hour GPS tracking of potentially dangerous stalkers accused or convicted of violating orders of protection.
But Kane County Court Services staff let elected officials know on Tuesday they won't be in compliance with the law until late March or April at the earliest.
Indeed, county court staff made it public months ago that they wouldn't be ready thanks to fuzzy language in the law and zero funding by state lawmakers to back up the new mandate.
The good news is the actual cost to implement the law may be a bit cheaper than the $360,000 court officials originally estimated back in September. The total annual cost will likely be closer to $265,000, but even that will fluctuate depending on how many people qualify for the 24-hour GPS monitoring.
The bad news is adding any additional expenses to a county budget that finished in the red last year will be an unpopular sell to county board members who must approve the purchase of the monitoring devices and service from an outside vendor.
Moreover, the vendor which court staff are recommending to provide the devices and the service is not the low bidder for the project - Georgia-based Omnilink is the third-lowest bidder.
However, that company was also the only bidder to offer a device that doesn't lose its signal when the monitored person enters a building.
"As I understand, it's something we have to do?" asked Judicial and Public Safety Committee Chairman Mike Kenyon to court staff Tuesday.
"It's the law," responded Kane County Court Services Executive Director Jim Mueller.
As of Tuesday, there was already one person eligible for the monitoring device in the Kane County court system.