Thursday, August 7, 2008

Illinois passes new law mandating GPS tracking for protection order violators

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a measure requiring sattleite tracking of people who violate protection orders. The measure will go into effect January 1, 2009 and is named after Cindy Bischoff, 43. who was killed by her boyfriend Michael Giroux, 60, in March in a murder/suicide.

"This is a way to enforce court orders of protection before it's too late," Blagojevich said.

Giroux twice had been charged with violating orders of protection sought by Bischof, of Arlington Heights. Bischof's family had pressed for passage of the bill after her death.The measure also had the support of Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan.

The measure, effective Jan. 1, will allow courts to require that anyone charged with violating an order of protection be fitted with a GPS monitoring device as a condition of bail. The technology can be used to alert victims when someone comes too close to a location from which they have been banned, such as a victim's home or workplace, authorities say.

A similar law has been used in Massachusetts.

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