By Liam Ford
The Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — Anyone who violates an order of protection could be forced to wear a satellite tracking device that would issue an electronic warning if the offender gets too close to the victim, under legislation introduced Tuesday in Springfield.
The proposed law was prompted by last month’s slaying of Elmhurst real estate broker Cindy Bischof, 43, who was gunned down outside her office by her ex-boyfriend, who then turned the weapon on himself. Michael Giroux was twice charged with violating Bischof’s restraining order.
The legislation mirrors a similar law in Massachusetts, which last year gave authorities the option of using tracking by global positioning systems, or GPS, for those under protection orders. The device alerts the victim and police if the harasser approaches such restricted safe zones as a home or workplace.
“What we need in this situation is to be able to identify those who have the propensity for violating conditions of bond, and for violations of orders, and a way to make this more than just a piece of paper,” said state Rep. Dennis Reboletti (R-Elmhurst), one of the measure’s chief sponsors.
The bill would mandate counseling for the subjects of restraining orders, although the type of treatment would be left up to the judge entering the order.
Refusing counseling would be grounds for being put on GPS monitoring.
House Republicans who proposed the measure wanted to give anyone who needs a restraining order “an added level of protection” if that order were violated, Reboletti said.
Democratic legislative leaders sounded pessimistic this week about the legislation’s chances this spring, especially because the deadline for new legislation to emerge from committee in the spring session was March 14.
However, Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan is supporting GPS tracking, said her spokeswoman, Cara Smith.
“It’s a wonderful idea, and this technology will provide another level of supervision and hopefully give survivors some peace of mind, give law enforcement more tools to track abusers who have demonstrated that they will not comply with the law,” she said.
Even if the legislation gets bogged down in the factional squabbles that have come to define Springfield, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office is exploring ways GPS tracking might be offered as a way to guard harassment victims in the county without changing the law, said John Gorman, a spokesman for the office.
“We’re considering several options, including possibly doing it without legislation,” he said.
The county’s Adult Probation Department could offer GPS for those under its supervision without legislation, Gorman said.
First, however, the Cook County chief judge’s office, which supervises the Probation Department, would sign off on the state’s attorney’s plan, he said.
The bill introduced Tuesday would require those fitted with GPS devices to pay their cost, estimated by several in the GPS tracking industry at $10 to $25 a day per person. Many states have a similar requirement for electronic monitoring, including GPS, which is in widespread use for sex offenders.
The Massachusetts GPS legislation has been in place for a little more than a year, but early results have been good, activists and researchers said.
The program was started because the state’s system of restraining orders was becoming ineffective, said one of its chief sponsors in the Massachusetts state Senate.
“The extraordinary frequency with which restraining orders are violated had become so commonplace that police were advising women that they were useless and that they didn’t serve to protect them or their children,” said former state Sen. Jarrett Barrios.
Women were being advised to leave their jobs, their children’s schools and their support networks, she said.
Soon after Bischof’s killing, her family called for extending GPS monitoring to those under restraining orders.
“This is really a culmination of numerous people leveraging their care, their connections and their concerns so that others won’t suffer the same fate that my sister suffered,” said Michael Bischof.
Domestic violence experts hailed the legislation but cautioned that it can be only part of the answer to decreasing the risk of domestic violence.
“It’s not going to be the ultimate answer for keeping everybody safe,” said Kathy Doherty, executive director of Between Friends, a domestic violence agency in Chicago.
Copyright 2008 Chicago Tribune