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By Greg Bartlett

Michael Untermeyer, a Republican candidate for the position of district attorney in Pennsylvania wore a GPS tracking bracelet as a bold statement of his support for their use in his district. The GPS tracker was placed on his leg at the beginning of September 2009 and Untermeyer planned to wear the GPS tracker for the entire month and welcomed people to watch the real time tracking on a map on his website.

The politician used this GPS tracker to make a statement about the overcrowded jails across the country. He accepted the wearing of this tracking device to publicly display his stand on that much-debated topic. Untermeyer believes, as many other politicians do, that the most non-violent offenders should be placed under house arrest, under the authority and watchful eye of a GPS tracker.

These GPS tracking systems are designed to be worn around the ankle and is currently used by those who are waiting to stand trial in local courts. These systems are waterproof and can be worn in the shower. If the GPS tracker is tampered with or cut off, an alert will be sent to the monitoring center.

There are those that oppose this alternative, saying that criminals need to be in jail in order to feel as if they are being punished for their crime. Although they might make a legitimate point, the amount of taxpayer money that is saved by equipping one prisoner with a GPS tracker is 90% of the cost of keeping him in jail. Instead of paying $100 a day per prisoner, those being monitored with a GPS tracker cost only $10 a day. Even if prisons only put a dozen non-violent criminals under house arrest with a GPS tracking system, they would save over a thousand dollars every day.

Untermeyer’s bold statement made the point with which many taxpayers agreed. Cutting down the prison budgets and making a bit of breathing space in the jails are both things that desperately need to be accomplished.