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New device protects city domestic violence victims

BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA | rocco.parascandola@newsday.com

April 24, 2008

New York City police and prosecutors have a new way of preventing domestic violence: Offenders now must wear an ankle bracelet that sets off an alarm if they get too close to their victims, Newsday has learned.

The device uses cell phone triangulation and global positioning to alert authorities and battered women or other domestic violence victims if the wearer enters an "exclusion zone," usually an area about 500 to 1,000 feet around a victim's home, school or job. The zone is spelled out in orders of protection issued when the offender agrees to wear the bracelet as part of their sentencing.

Victims are alerted via text messages or a cell phone call. An alert is also sent to a Colorado-based monitoring company, which calls 911 in New York. The NYPD is then sent to arrest the offender.

The initiative provides a "modern-day solution to an age-old problem and will assist victims to regain control of their lives," Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. "No longer will an order of protection be simply an unenforceable piece of paper."

The bracelet program took effect at the end of March in Queens and Brooklyn. Police sources said the NYPD hopes to expand the program citywide.

The program provides domestic violence victims more security and freedom, said Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, who described how he grew up in fear of his alcoholic father.

"Every night, we barricaded the three entries to our house," Hynes recalled. "That's not a way to live, to be constrained inside your house, worried about what the next shadow might bring. Having this technology gives us a way to monitor the offenders and help the victims feel safe."

Two men in Brooklyn and four or five in Queens have been fitted with the bracelet. None have violated the orders of protection, though one man in Queens drew the attention of authorities when he got too close to an exclusion zone.

"We had him come in the next day and told him he was too close for our comfort," said Scott Kessler, chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau in Brown's office. "He has since stayed home with his mother and not come close to the zone."

The bracelet of another offender in a rehab program is programmed to make sure the offender attends each session and doesn't leave early, Kessler said.

"It sort of tips that balance of power in favor of the victim and authorities," said Wanda Lucibello, chief of the Special Victims Division in Hynes' office. "Anytime there is that shift, especially when there's a stalker involved, it's useful because it shows [the offender] that someone else is in control."