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GPS devices monitor domestic abusers, stalkers

2008-07-29 09:15:53

By DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press WriterMon Jul 28, 2:08 PM ET

Mary Babb was in her SUV last year when her estranged husband slammed into her

with his pickup truck. The crash overturned Babb's vehicle and left her

suspended upside-down by her seat belt.

As she hung there helplessly, Thomas Babb fired two rounds from a shotgun,

killing his wife in front of horrified witnesses outside the office where she

worked.

Now Babb's family has lobbied successfully for Michigan to join a growing

number of states that have expanded electronic monitoring to include domestic

abusers and stalkers.

Before her death, the 30-year-old Babb had filed for divorce and moved out. She

changed jobs and obtained a court order protecting her from her husband. But he

kept following her.

"She did everything the law provided her, and it wasn't enough," said Mary

Babb's brother, Michael Anderson.

Michigan's new law allows judges to order domestic violence suspects to wear

GPS devices even before they go to trial. The idea is to alert victims if

alleged abusers are nearby. That measure joins another law signed this month by

Gov. Jennifer Granholm that requires paroled prisoners who have been convicted

of aggravated stalking to wear GPS tethers.

Authorities and victims will "know exactly where they are," said Harvette

Williams, 39, a former real estate agent who sought the law after being stalked

for three years by a client. Her stalker was imprisoned in 2006, and will be

monitored electronically if he's paroled.

GPS devices have been used for years to monitor sex offenders. But

technological advances have now made it possible for the systems to issue

warnings by cell phone if the offender gets too close to a specific victim.

Massachusetts adopted a law last year that lets judges require electronic

monitoring of people who violate personal protection orders. Michigan, Oklahoma

and Hawaii followed suit this year with GPS laws, bringing to 11 the number of

states with related measures, said Diane Rosenfeld, a lecturer at Harvard Law

School who proposed the Massachusetts law.

Similar legislation is awaiting the governor's signature in Illinois. The

proposed law there is named for Cindy Bischof, who was gunned down in March by

her ex-boyfriend at the suburban Chicago real estate office where she worked.

After Mary Babb's death in 2007, authorities searched for technology that could

call victims' cell phone if offenders come within a certain distance or

approached their home or office. Victims also receive a call when the offender

leaves the area.

Protection orders traditionally have sought to protect victims in their homes,

at work or their children's school. But GPS technology now allows "zones" of

protection to move with the victims if they wear a device.

"This returns some of the power and self-control of victims' own lives back to

them," said Michigan Rep. Bill Caul, a Republican who sponsored a GPS bill.

The GPS technology has limitations if there's poor cell phone coverage, and

zones have to be large enough so victims can be alerted in time to react. But

the systems also help police corroborate whether an offender violated a

protective order.

In response to Michigan's new law, parole officers recently fitted GPS devices

on 39 parolees who served prison time for aggravated stalking.

Authorities already had the option of ordering paroled stalkers to wear

monitoring devices because nothing explicitly prohibited the practice. But

advocates hope the new GPS laws raise awareness about the technology and

encourage judges to use the monitoring devices in more domestic violence cases.

Thomas Babb, who pleaded no contest to murder and other charges, is serving a

52- to 77-year prison sentence in the slaying of his wife.

"This could happen to your niece or your daughter, or to your sister, your

neighbor, your friend or even your mother," said Mary Babb's aunt, Paula

Andresen of LeRoy. "No one deserves to live in such fear and terror. We have to

do everything possible to change this, to make laws to protect the victims."