GPS Tracking ROI

I write often here on tracking criminals, parolees and ‘high risk juveniles with GPS.  The usual reason many law enforcement jurisdictions haven’t done much along these lines is the age old excuse every government worker uses to get out of work … or thinking … the "We have no money" line.

Here’s a nice piece from a rural county staring in a small way, but a county run by smart people who can do simple math.

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho  —  A northern Idaho county plans to start using GPS bracelets to track juvenile offenders.

…. She said high-risk juveniles on probation would be likely candidates for the bracelet. … Peterson said those in juvenile diversion usually are first-time offenders such as truants, runaways, or petty thieves. She said they are more likely to run away and would be good candidates for one of the bracelets.

The juveniles must agree to take part in the program.

So far, the county has only put the GPS bracelets on adults. The wearer pays the county $10 per day.

Mike Wall, administrator for the county’s Adult Misdemeanor Probation Department, said the devices work well… Full article here.

So the adult GPS supervision program works well.  And the county, as I have often advocated before, makes the wearers of the bracelets pay for the service.  They will likely all opt for that because by going into the GPS program they can be out and about … and work … saving the county further costs they would likely incur paying for support of the offender’s families.

But perhaps the juvies won’t/can’t pay?  It is still worth a fortune to society to get into this.  $10 a day is $3600 a year in round numbers.

In almost every state, prisoners in confinement cost more than $36,000 a year (plus the hidden welfare/loss of taxes burden).  In case math is not your forte’, just remember that with a radix 10 number system like we normally use, every zero place holder means ten time more.  So id the country puts the devices on say 10 misdemeanor juveniles in a year, that’s a burden of $36,000. If paying that one bill keeps, just for the sake of argument, two of them out of prison in the future (about 50% are destined to go on to bigger and better crimes in today’s justice system).  Anyway, just two per year are saved, the taxpayer makes a 100% rate of return … $36,000 spent, $72,000 not spent .  These numbers scale well for big or small populations.  Do the math.  GPS tracking can save a fortune for the taxpayer.

OH, and at the risk of sounding like an old softy … is preventing a minor offender from going off on the road to perdition and ‘hard time’ worth anything?  Probably not, unless it’s your kid, or your neighbors … or your nephew or grandson, etc.

Governor Tim Pawlenty wants to explore replacing Minnesota’s motor fuels tax with one based on mileage. He argues that the advent of renewable fuels and more hybrids hitting the roads is already lowering the demand for gasoline.
And, he says, as consumption of gas and diesel drops the reliabilty of the fuel tax as a source will also falter. Currently the state’s fuel tax of 20-cents per gallon raises $650 million a year, but that has leveled off recently and is already projected to fall.
“And this would allow us then to charge by mile driven, regardless of fuel source. It would be a fuel neutral charge for miles driven,” the Governor told reporters in his budget address.
Mr. Pawlenty included $5 million in his 2008-09 budget to launch a pilot project testing a mileage tax system in Minnesota. The state of Oregon started a similar test in March, using 250 volunteers driving specially equipped cars… Rest of the Pay As You Drive article here

Happy President’s Day weekend to my readers in the US.  Although you all know I am a certified (certifiable?) GPS nut I still don’t know if every scheme that someone thinks up for the use of “my” toy is a smart scheme.

States and the federal government obviously are somewhat interested in driver’s economizing on the use of foreign fuel.  Drivers, to some extent, are also interested in savings.  This has the side effect of reducing state’s fuel taxes collected.  There are various solutions offered from time to time, one of which has been having a lot of play lately … all can be lumped under the catch phrase of PAYD, Pay As You Drive.   I’ve written a bit on this already, see

GPS for PAYD? Not the way Oregon is Heading , GPS Tracking For The Consumer — It Ain’t Just For Big Rigs and especially

Dirty Little Secret — When is a Mile not a Mile (or a Kilometer not a Kilometer) for a little background.

Bottom lone still boils down to be the folks who think universal GPS tracking is a solution to the shrinking tax problem have it wrong in several ways:

• Privacy:  The state(s) will collect massive amounts of information that they will either have to devise expensive means to protect or suffer interminable suits by disgruntled citizens … putting one citizen’s total on-road activities on-line in one repository is certain to run afoul of current or future privacy regulations.
• Data Volume: Tracking a fleet of vehicles for a business our a government agency or even a family of teenagers is a definable task which can be scoped and budgeted for,  tracking a whole state full of vehicles will produce a huge burden in data storage, sorting, back up and analysis tasks,
• Accuracy:  If you want to tax me by the gallon or liter of fuel I purchase, great.  The pumps are verifiably accurate and kept that way by weights and measures people.  GPS trackers and even the basic odometers in a car are not covered by any form of national certification and can easily be off by even 10 or more percent.  You can not tax me with a yardstick that can’t be verified.  Trying to do0 so will just be a full time lawyer employment act.

So think this through, Governor Pawlenty an others in this position.  GPS is a great tool, a wonderful tool for many things but it is not a gas tax collector, period.

Mobile Users Want GPS Tools Not Mobile TV

Mike Slocombe

17 Oct 2006

A new survey of over 1,000 early adopters and mobile phone business users discovered little enthusiasm for mobile video but a keen interest in using handsets as navigation aids.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the study by market research firm In-Stat suggests that mobile phone companies may need to change their strategy as they try to encourage more users on to third-generation data services.

Full Article Here: