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By Harriette Halepis

The main duty of a parole officer is to keep an eye on a newly released criminal. This is done through visit, follow-up phone calls, family communication, and other similar methods. Regular parole officers are assigned around 100 cases, and “intensive” parole officers are assigned around 40 cases.

There’s no clouding the fact that parole officers are overworked. There simply aren’t enough parole officers in the world to cover the number of criminals that require constant monitoring. Not only is the task of checking in on hundreds of criminals weekly impossible, it is also a public safety risk.

With the help of GPS tracking devices, parole officers can keep an electronic eye on all offenders at all times. In addition to regular meetings and phone calls, GPS trackers would provide another way for parole officers to stay in-touch with criminals.

While combining GPS trackers with parole officers has not been implemented yet, it is an idea that is bound to be tested very soon. There’s no cutting back on the number of criminals that are released into society, but technology has found a way to ensure that those criminals are constantly supervised.

The average parolee must meet with their parole contact at least once per week –sometimes, once per month. During the rest of the week, parole officers make every attempt to know the whereabouts of their case assignments. Still, this is not always possible given time constraints and an abundance of case files.

The time that parolees spend not meeting with their parole officers can easily be spent doing other things—including criminal activities. Thus, the sheer lack of control over parolees can lead to an unstable community.

GPS technology is poised to assist parole officers with the difficult task of following parolees. The devices are accurate, they exist, and they have been proven affective time and again. Rather than assign parole officers more cases, doesn’t it make more sense to use GPS tracking technology?

Nothing can replace human insight and instinct when it comes to following parolees, but the addition of technology will certainly help to make streets safer. In fact, technology exists in order to better our world, so why not take advantage of it? GPS tracking devices can assist parole officers with their duties, which means that a lot less criminals will be able to get away with crime when parole officers aren’t looking.