Impact of GPS Tracking of Gang Members Goes Beyond the Individual
In communities throughout the United States, local law enforcement agencies continue to encounter new threats to personal and community well-being as aspects of our culture continue to shift. Decades ago, street gangs were not even in Americans’ vernacular, but today they pose a serious problem in many urban and suburban regions across the nation. The costs to house an incarcerated gang member have never been higher; as of 2011, the total average cost is roughly $47,000 per inmate per year. With budgetary restraints in many local law enforcement jurisdictions that emerged during the 2008 financial crisis still looming, our cities are forced to battle an increasing rate of gang member activity with a decreasing police presence and state prisons reaching full capacity.
Many law enforcement divisions have implemented systems of GPS tracking devices to track the activity of gang members convicted of felonies. While these kinds of supervision programs have been met with great success in terms of preventing the tracked gang member from participating in further criminal activity, another positive side effect has been observed by law enforcement officials utilizing the GPS tracking technology: gangs are beginning to ostracize members who are forced to wear personal GPS trackers.
How Nashville PD Are Using GPS Trackers To Reduce Criminal Activity
As cited in a recent discussion with law enforcement officials in East Nashville, Tennessee, officers had no idea this would occur. While they anticipated reduced criminal activity being committed by those members being tracked, they were under the impression that these members would still have a say in the planning and coordinating of future criminal acts. However, a fear of being tracked by association with these members has led gangs to send many members equipped with GPS tracking systems into exile. As a lieutenant of East Nashville’s Metro Gang Unit stated, “It’s reduced the potential for these folks to become involved in any other crime because now they know they’re monitored…These folks are walking around with a target on them, to some degree”.
While the GPS tracking program in East Nashville remains small for now, if officers continue to see decreased levels of graffiti, theft, and loitering associated with known street gangs, the program will surely receive greater funding for expansion. If gangs allow members with a GPS tracking unit to remain in the gang, police officers know where at least part of the gang is. If the gang member is ostracized, then that gang is down a member and realizes that law enforcement agents will not hesitate to outfit as many gang members as they can with tracking units. It also allows for the possibility that the exiled gang member may see this release from the gang as a potential to make a life change for the better. For law enforcement and the community, tracking gang members with GPS tracking technology is truly a win-win scenario.
Author Bio
Tracking System Direct’s Matthew Hensen has spent over a decade in the GPS business. He understands fleet management using GPS tracking technology for small and large service area companies and has extensive experience.