GPS Monitoring

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Ankle monitors are electronic devices that are tethered around your ankle. They are designed to be tamper-resistant and must be worn at all times. The device uses a radio frequency signal to communicate back to a monitoring station. It may be programmed to allow you to roam freely within a certain area, and it may have GPS monitoring functions that alert the monitoring station if you go outside of the permitted area.  If the device is tampered with or removed, authorities will be alerted and you will be arrested.

 

 The conditions may vary greatly from one person to the next. Some people may have to stay at home the entire time of their Community Control sentence, while others are allowed to go to work or travel within their own community.

If you fail to follow the rules, for example, if you step outside of the perimeter or take the device off, authorities may be dispatched to your home. You may then be found in violation of your bond and this can result in any of the following consequences:

– Getting arrested without a warrant wherever the person is found
– Instead of an arrest, the Judge may issue a Notice to Appear in Court

Once in Court, the Judge will inform the person of the alleged committed violation. If the person does not admit the violation, the Court may send the person to jail with or without bail while they wait for an additional hearing.

Depending on the specific terms of your house arrest, you may have a predetermined schedule where you are allowed to leave your residence at specific times for employment and other approved activities, such as grocery shopping or going to church. At all other times, you will need to stay within the range of your monitoring equipment.

Since there are different types of ankle monitors, they also have different capabilities. Yours may vibrate if your supervising officer is attempting to communicate with you. If this is the case, follow the instructions provided to you to acknowledge having received the communication. It can be vibrating because it is going dead and it need s to be charged. ( which is also a violation of the bond).

If it starts vibrating and you were never given instructions on what to do in such an eventuality, contact your bonding company and ankle monitoring company  immediately to let him or her know. Don’t put this on the back burner. You don’t want to risk it malfunctioning and you being accused of violating the terms.
Removing or tampering with an ankle monitor is a felony in the third degree,