HAS In Action

Save Lives with GPS
Ed Montgomery Urges the Family Court to Adopt Victim Notification GPS
and Save Lives

San Bernardino County Superior Court candidate Ed Montgomery attended an in depth technical demonstration of new life saving victim notification GPS devices from Petra Fuhriman the co-owner of GPS Monitoring Solutions.

As an attorney committed to finding practical solutions to complex issues facing our courts Mr. Montgomery was impressed with the versatility and reliability of the GPS unit.

Victim notification GPS allows a potential victim of violence to be instantly notified when a person they have a restraining order against enters within the forbidden perimeter established by that order. When a potential threat enters the area a victim can use that warning to take evasive action and protect themselves. This technology prevents any chance meetings in public places in addition to locations outlined in a court order. Judges have the ability to independently verify the compliance to the restraining orders established in their court.

Mr. Montgomery also had the ability to see a personal demonstration of the Actsoft alcohol monitoring system by GPS Solutions. It is an impressive unit that far exceeds the ability of the current alcohol monitoring system. The technology of the Actsoft system allows for automatic readings every seven minutes with failsafe systems to rule out false readings. "Having used alcohol monitoring devices in the past, to prove or disprove alcohol consumption, this unit is truly the next generation of technogly that Family court needs to embrace."

"This technology can and will save lives, and I want to do everything I can to bring it to the family court system in San Bernardino County" He adds that "I look forward to using another tool on the bench to protect the children of our community." As for the budgetary aspect of implementing such technology he will personally work with the county and law enforcement to apply for grants as well as lobby local and state government to bring both a lifesaving and cost cutting tool to the family court. "Hard data from monitoring of both alcohol consumption and violation of protection orders can eliminate the need for many hearings. Freeing up valuable resources available to the court." Ed encourages other family law attorneys to use both the GPS Monitoring and Actsoft as another tool in protecting our children and bring down the personal financial costs associated with family court.

Ed Montgomery is running for Superior Court Judge seat #29 in the June 8, 2010 election. He is the only judicial candidate to endorse this technology. Ed has extensive specialized training to work on the family law bench and has volunteered his time for the last ten years as a substitute judge on the family court bench. He is proud to be the first in his county to endorse this technology and is ready from day one to serve and begin saving lives with GPS in place.

Area company's monitor debuts on 'CSI: Miami'
The tracking and monitoring device plays a key role on the hit show. By SCOTT BARANCIK, Times Staff Writer

The Tampa Bay area may not be sexy enough to be a backdrop to a television series like CSI: Miami, but at least one local company got a dose of exposure on the crime show this week.

The fall premiere that aired Sept. 24 featured an Actsoft Inc. electronic ankle bracelet that not only keeps track of its wearer's location but alerts authorities if the wearer consumes alcohol.

On the show, teenage character Kyle Harmon got in trouble when the House Arrest Solution bracelet determined that he had been drinking and sent an alert to his parole officer's BlackBerry. Police used the bracelet's GPS function to track the kid down.

"It was a win-win," said Michaela Wright, spokeswoman for Tampa-based Actsoft. "CSI prides itself on having a realistic and forward-thinking show. Naturally, they want to have cutting-edge technology." Wright said a CSI producer contacted Actsoft after reading a newspaper article about the bracelet.

Although the Actsoft logo appeared six or seven times on screen, the company didn't have to pay a penny for the product placement, Wright added. CSI exaggerated one part of the bracelet's functionality. The alert that appeared on the parole officer's BlackBerry was more detailed - it contained a color photo of the teenager, plus various graphs and charts - than a real one would be.
[Last modified September 25, 2007, 23:09:28]

Alcohol Sensored Ankle Bracelet On CSI: Miami
Actsoft, Inc House Arrest Solution Featured In Premiere Episode

Tampa, FL – September 25, 2007 – Actsoft, Inc™, a Tampa based company, celebrated national exposure when the Actsoft House Arrest Solution (HAS) was featured in CSI: Miami’s fall premiere episode, which aired Monday, September 24th on CBS.

Actsoft, Inc developed an ankle bracelet that incorporates active GPS and an embedded continuous alcohol sensor for offenders placed on Electronic Monitoring. Due to the product’s cutting edge technology, CSI: Miami selected HAS to be featured in the premiere episode of the fall season. Doreen Blauschild, Associate Producer of CSI: Miami explained, “We chose Actsoft, Inc because of the HAS. We needed an ankle bracelet that incorporated both active GPS tracking and alcohol detection.”

Kevin Thigpen, Vice President of Business Development states, “We were excited and proud that CSI: Miami selected HAS to premier what is certain to be an award-winning 2007 season. Many of us have been long time fans of the show. It is great to know that CSI: Miami is now a fan of ours.”

HAS is an accurate reflection of industry first technology in the electronic monitoring arena and is now becoming a hot commodity; even with Hollywood.

About Actsoft, Inc

Actsoft, Inc. is the leading developer of GPS & Mobile Resource Management specializing in client and web based wireless solutions leveraging handsets, hard mounts, and other devices.

Their products include Comet Tracker, Comet Mobile Worker, House Arrest Solution, Comet Tracker Web and many more. ActSoft, Inc provides enterprise solutions to thousands of companies throughout the United States, Canada and other locations around the world.

Gadget Is Parolees' Last Call
By RICHARD MULLINS The Tampa Tribune

Published: Apr 21, 2007

The judge gave Steven Williams a choice: Go to jail awaiting trial for reckless driving, or stay out on bail and wear a new kind of ankle bracelet that can detect any signs of drinking alcohol.

Williams chose the bracelet.

"I did not like wearing it. It's definitely not comfortable," said Williams, 35.

But the bracelet has proved the incentive to stay sober. "Prison or jail is not for me," the Tampa resident said.

As judicial systems nationwide deal with crowded jails and prisons, growing interest in new devices such as the one Williams wears could create a business boom for companies that make this new generation of ankle bracelets.

Several law enforcement agencies in Florida and elsewhere have started outfitting parolees with bracelets that can detect telltale signs of drinking and alert police immediately.

"This is very new, but from my perspective it is a fantastic device," said Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Lawrence Lefler, who has ordered that the devices be used in a few cases.

"If you have someone who you don't trust, or if you're curious what they're doing, you can put them on this and monitor exactly what they are doing."

The bracelets are primarily designed for people convicted of driving while intoxicated or others who pledge to abstain as part of their release agreement. But companies that make the gadgets are marketing them for use in other cases, such as domestic abuse.

"This is a way to more safely release nonviolent offenders and open up space in prisons for more dangerous people," said Kevin Thigpen, vice president of business development for ActSoft, a Tampa-based company that sells a version of the new bracelets.

ActSoft has struck deals with two government and private agencies in Ohio, and it expects to sign more deals this year.

The new approach comes from the convergence of two accelerating trends: advancements in cellular GPS technology and the struggle of judicial systems to deal with crowded jails.

Increasingly, parolees in the United States wear some form of ankle bracelet that can track their location via GPS microchips. That helps authorities ensure that people stay within house arrest and that sexual predators keep away from schools, malls and other places children gather.

The new bracelets take such tracking systems to a new level: alcohol detection. Billion-Dollar Market

The bracelets don't take a blood alcohol content measurement like a breath test. Rather, they continually measure vapors off a person's skin for traces of ethanol, which the body produces when digesting alcohol.

Each person's body chemistry is different, so the bracelet takes a baseline measurement when it is initially attached, Thigpen said. Then parole officers can then set a triggering range to detect whatever level of alcohol consumption they choose.

In theory, the devices won't set off a false alarm even if someone accidentally spilled a drink on the bracelet, because it only detects ethanol processed by the body, not alcohol.

From there, companies take different approaches.

ActSoft's bracelet continually sends wireless signals to a cell phone that a parolee must carry at all times. The phone can't make calls, but it does contain a GPS chip, which sends signals to a central monitoring system that tracks an offender's location and alcohol use.

Like cell phone service companies, ankle bracelet makers expect to make most of their money from monthly service fees

The largest company in the market, Denver-based Alcohol Monitoring Solutions, estimates the market could ultimately be worth $1.3 billion a year in monitoring fees.

That is because about 18 percent of the current U.S. jail and prison population was convicted of an alcohol-related offense, or about 708,000 people. And 4 in 10 U.S. offenders now in jail, or 5.3 million people, were drinking at the time of their crimes.

Alcohol Monitoring Solutions has monitored 34,000 people nationwide since launching the program in April 2003, including 1,277 in Florida.

The new bracelets even helped two people arrested in the area stay off alcohol, said Frank Kopczynski, owner of Action Plus Bail Bonds in Clearwater, who is working with local judges to deploy the bracelets.

In one case this year, he said, a woman in her 20s facing a DUI trial agreed to wear a bracelet to see whether she could stay sober, Kopczynski said.

"She and her father went to great lengths to keep her sober and prevent any false positives, too," he said. "They went through all her cosmetics, shampoos and lotions just to make sure they didn't have any alcohol. So far, she's fine." Cheaper Than A Jail Stay

Judge Lefler said he is encouraged by such stories, but he wants the devices to come down in cost. There are no set rules about who pays for the bracelets. In two recent cases, Lefler ordered parolees to pay for the bracelets - about $50 for installation and $12 per day, or about $400 a month.

That compares with $43.26 per day, or about $1,298 a month, to incarcerate a man in Florida and $65.46 a day, or $1,964 a month, for a woman, state law enforcement spokesman Benjamin Fairbrother said. Each of those costs has increased more than 5 percent from the year before.

Rising costs have put pressure on states to parole more nonviolent inmates and have spurred advancements in technology to track them after release.

Ohio House Monitoring Systems Inc. started using ActSoft bracelets two years ago and plans to start using the new alcohol detecting models as soon as they become available this month.

The company tracks parolees on behalf of Ohio jails and prisons, monitoring people convicted of crimes such as DUI, writing bad checks and sexual offenses.

"We work with many probation departments whose only way to check on what people are doing is to physically stop at people's houses and look," said Christina Miller, vice president of the company.

"Otherwise, they rely on the honor system. ... If someone's not supposed to be drinking, at least now they'll know. No matter if it's one glass, two, or people are three sheets to the wind."

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at rmullins@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7919.