BALTIMORE, MD (January 11, 2008) – Governor Martin O’Malley, joined by Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon, Baltimore City Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld, and Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Donald DeVore, today announced continued efforts to improve public safety and juvenile justice in Maryland’s communities.
Governor O’Malley announced plans to improve public safety by allocating $1 million in the FY 2009 budget for the purchase of GPS Electronic Monitoring equipment to monitor, track, and supervise 200 of the State’s most at-risk juvenile offenders. Governor O’Malley also announced the creation of the Violence Prevention Unit within the Department of Juvenile Services that will supervise and monitor these at-risk youth.
“Public safety is the foundation of the quality of life we enjoy in Maryland and making our neighborhoods and communities more secure is a goal that all Marylanders share. It is undeniable that one of the most important duties of any government and, in fact, hardest challenges, is public safety,” said Governor O’Malley. “With the ability to constantly monitor offenders, we will make great strides in improving our supervision and treatment practices, taking us one step further towards making our communities safer.”
“This GPS monitoring system is an important and valuable new tool that will contribute significantly to our campaign to make every neighborhood and every person safer,” said Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon.
This announcement comes one day after Governor O’Malley announced proposed legislation to expand DNA sampling to arrestees of “Crimes of Violence” and burglaries to improve public safety and solve violent crimes in our communities. Governor O’Malley also announced Maryland’s success in eliminating the backlog of untested and uncollected DNA samples from convicted felons, which had grown to over 24,000 by the end of 2006. Today’s event is the second in a series of events where Governor O’Malley will roll out his legislative agenda and budget priorities for the 2008 legislative session.
“GPS will enable the Department to know the exact location of our youth, which will help us ensure youth are not only where they should be but where they shouldn’t be. This greatly improves our abilities to protect victims as well as the community at large,” said the Secretary of the Department of Juvenile Services, Donald DeVore.
The sophisticated GPS of this system transmits the exact location of offenders in real time and sets up inclusion and exclusion zones, allowing officials to pinpoint the exact movement of offenders in the community. The offenders will be placed in the newly created Violence Prevention Unit within the Department of Juvenile Services. These youth, who are on probation, on aftercare, or part of the Operation Safe Kids program, will be constantly monitored to prevent them from committing repeat offenses and threatening the safety of our Maryland communities.
In addition to the proven effectiveness of GPS Electronic Monitoring systems, Secretary DeVore touched on an additional benefit: “GPS is a cost effective way to maintain public safety without having to detain these youth. The cost of GPS is approximately 20 dollars a day versus hundreds of dollars for detention.”