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• Apr 13, 2007 9:43 am US/Eastern
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  Suffolk: Not Enough Cops To Monitor GPS Inmates

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Suffolk: Not Enough Cops To Monitor GPS Inmates

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (CBS/AP) ― Sentencing people to wear ankle bracelets is taking its toll on Suffolk County's probation department. It has run out of officers to monitor the criminals and defendants.

Suffolk's Probation director John Desmond told his staff to stop recommending GPS devices as a condition of probation because the department does not have enough officers to supervise more accused and offenders.

Currently, 10 probation officers working in three shifts track the whereabouts of 50 criminals and defendants around the clock to ensure they don't go where they're not supposed to.

Increasingly, lawmakers are turning to technology like GPS as an alternate means to incarceration for some offenders, including drunk drivers, some sex predators, and violators of orders of protection.

It's cheaper to track people using GPS devices than it is to send them to jail.

Desmond says if Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy and the county legislature want to expand the GPS program, they need to hire more probation officers.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)