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Byline: Steve Shoup Journal Staff Writer
Satellites Can Locate Convicted Offenders
Mayor Jim Baca wants to make sure that a satellite system that could track parolees anywhere isn't also used by stalkers and abusers to track down their victims.
State, county and city law enforcement and judiciary representatives last month checked out the SkyGuard system of BI Inc., of Colorado, which uses government Global Positioning System satellites to track convicted offenders on probation or parole.
Baca said the system could greatly improve a home-detention and travel-restriction tracking system used now. SkyGuard can instantly show a person's location within a few feet.
"It's really astonishing technology," Baca said last week. "This will track you anywhere."
The system uses a small transmitter attached to an offender's ankle. That device works with a larger receiver that the offender carries or wears on a belt. The small unit works with the larger unit to determine a person's location using satellite signals.