Print |
E-mail to a friend
NEWS BRIEFS
Bill to allow GPS tracking of domestic abusers OKd
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A bill aimed at protecting domestic violence victims by attaching ankle monitors to track the whereabouts of alleged abusers cleared a crucial hurdle Thursday.
The measure — named in honor of a woman gunned down outside her home last year — won unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee after undergoing some big revisions.
The committee, which spent weeks studying and taking testimony on the issue, changed the instances when the GPS monitors would be placed around the ankles of suspected abusers.
Its version would allow judges to order the electronic tracking devices for people who violated domestic violence orders. The House-passed rendition would allow judges to order people named in domestic violence orders to wear the ankle monitors.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, the bill’s lead sponsor, said he didn’t think the changes hurt the measure, but said he needed time to review the committee action. He said the bill still provided a good “net of protection.”
“When you look at it in balance, what they’ve tried to do is to provide a workable system that the courts will utilize,” Stumbo told reporters afterward. “And that’s key. If we give the courts a tool that they don’t like, they won’t utilize it.”
