GPS Tracking Chips May be Unconstitutional
Williams Lake, B.C. – Williams Lake City Council’s goal of injecting prolific offenders with GPS tracking chips may not get past the drawing board.
Williams Lake city council voted in favour of the idea at a meeting earlier this week in reaction to the disturbing gunpoint robbery of a bicycle from a teenage boy in a popular park.
“I’m not familiar with the technology they’re referring to at all,” says Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Mike Morris. “And there would be all kinds of constitutional challenges if we were to look at something like that.”
However Morris says his government has taken recent strides to help deal with prolific offenders.
“The government has just implemented a new electronic monitoring system that has increased capabilities, such as GPS function, for the courts to apply at their discretion,” he says. “Regardless, this government is committed to public safety and to continuing to drive down crime.”
To further tackle crime, Morris says his ministry has a team exploring a community safety partnership pilot project in Williams Lake and nearby First Nations communities.
“Our team has met with the mayor, various First Nations leaders and others to discuss their perspectives on community safety and crime prevention. Additional consultation is ongoing.”
Regardless, Williams Lake city councillor Scott Nelson says the incident has shaken the community of roughly 11,000 people.
“Never in our thoughts did we ever think that a 14 year old kid was going to get robbed in broad daylight at a birthday party in one of our most prominent parks,” he says. “And I think not only is the community frustrated, they’re just simply angry.”
He says a GPS tracking chip would allow them to monitor 20 to 30 prolific offenders and another 30-40 high risk offenders 24/7, 365 days a year.
“What we’re trying to do is open up every tool available to us and that means being innovative, that means doing things that people don’t really want to talk about because it may be an infringement of their privacy rights.”
Council’s decision has been forwarded to the North Central Local Government Association and the Union of B.C. Municipalities for support later this year.
Comments
“Never in our thoughts did we ever think that a 14 year old kid was going to get robbed in broad daylight at a birthday party in one of our most prominent parks,” he says. “And I think not only is the community frustrated, they’re just simply angry.”
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Perhaps it’s time the community stopped relying on the government and/ or the police for a solution and took matters into their own hands. As it stands, there is close to no consequences for the offender if they’re caught. It’s time to start making our kids understand that this behavior is unacceptable.
Absolutely this is unconstitutional. I wouldn’t want to live in a country that allowed people to be injected with tracking devices without their consent. This city council should actually be quite ashamed of themselves for even suggesting it.
findme; don’t concern yourself with number of thumbs down you are getting for your opinion, they do not realize how putting a tracking chip under the skin in a person’s arm is really a small step away from what is on this elderly gentleman’s arm.
http: //tinyurl.com/glmghh8
Damn, that’s pretty cool. Like minority report or something sci-fi. Why waste that technology on a bike thief? But it in my keys or phone so I can find them when they go missing. The whole concept is unconstitutional, maybe a temporary one for dangerous inmates/repeat offenders.
Repeat offenders shouldn’t have any rights in our community. They should be locked away.
Your way of thinking is scary and thankfully outdated.
Suzuki wants those who disagree with his climate change scam promotion locked up. Is that okay?
Many comments on this site are antisocial. Not only that, but the amount of thumbs up they get are even more telling of how sick our society is starting to get.
I am still assuming that when it comes to macho comments on internet sites and those developing into vigilante groups gathering around public spaces in PG and other northern small town Canada enclaves in Canada with axes and a rope in their hands and some perpetrator they caught trying to steal a bicycle, they do not have the guts to carry anything through.
If it gets to the point where they do, then the police, the government and the rest of us law abiding citizens will be in real trouble.
Bringing Suzuki into this is changing the topic.
One stupid comment, likely taken out of context, does not make the ones which deal with the incident under discussion here right.
Oh sorry gopg2015 I bow to you.
Since when did gopg2015 become the moderator for this site? First telling people what they can and can’t post and then inferring anyone who doesn’t have a bleeding heart outlook must somehow be less than law abiding.
Biggest news of the decade happened this week with only peep from mainstream media. Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister; Al-Naimi said he preferred if oil did not stay at $20 US per barrel, but says his country will be fine if it does. His message was quite clear to high cost oil producing countries like Canada and its Oil Sands: “Get Out” of The Market.
Looks like the old Harper Conservative dream of Canada becoming a “World Energy Super Power” is now dead, to think otherwise is hubris delusion. Saudi Arabi has so much, cheap to pump, oil it can oversupply the market and keep oil at $20 per barrel for years.
www. cbc.ca/news/business/saudi-oil-minister-in-houston-1.3459539
What does this have to do with the story at hand?
Sorry; I posted here by mistake instead of to the Friday Free of All…
This is called the Verichip. Of course, this type of draconian police state method of control will be introduced with the “it is for your safety” mantra.
This “representative of the people” needs some history lessons of the previous 100 years and should consider our history all the while imagining what today would be like if this technology existed and was implemented back then. He should resign.
Repeat offenders should have choices. Stay in jail or freedom with the gps tracker. And if this means the are considered a victim by someones warped sense of morals and values…too bad. At least they will think twice before victimizing anyone else.
Repeat offenders should serve the time they are given for the crime they have committed. We would be far better off trying to figure out why these people are repeat offenders.
Are people forgetting that we have ankle bracelets that are in use today for ADULT FELONS, not for JUVENILES, and are used to allow them to live outside of jail, typically in the restricted area of their dwelling unit.
Even they are not injected with a chip which violates the sanctity of their own body.
What part of this do people not understand? When it comes this far, we are far too close to the notions of “1984”.
It’s very disappointing to see that findme’s posts on this page are apparently contrary to the majority of other page visitors.
Maybe thats because a lot of people are sick and tired of bleeding hearts trying to make excuses and treat criminals as victims all the time. If someone has been given multiple choices to clean up their act and they still commit crimes, then at the very least, the criminal should not have the same rights as everyone else and should have to be monitored in some way, since they obviously can’t monitor their own behaviour.
Get rid of terms like “bleeding hearts”, and we might be able to have a conversation on equal grounds.
I think that people are saying they don’t believe rehabilitation -in the case of repeat offenders- works. How many chances should a person get? Yes, some people need a lot of help but at some point they have to start accepting some degree of personal responsibility. You can’t help somebody who doesn’t want to be helped.
We cannot know if rehabilitation would work as our underfunded prisons and associated services don’t have money to provide true rehabilitation programs.
It would be fantastic to get ahead of the game and fund prevention – determine what is going wrong in repeat offenders lives to find solutions to decrease crime through education, drug and alcohol abuse prevention, etc.
You’ve got that right.
Liberal society strikes again. The criminals rights are taken into consideration, more so than the innocent, law abiding, tax payers. Stick a big sign on these losers and let them get whats coming to them.
Everyone get’s rights in Canada. Even the criminals.
The reason we do not put repeat offenders in jail on a regular basis, or we try to come up with various ways to keep them out of jail, is because of the cost of incarceration.
We also fine people, take away their cars, and put locks on their ignitions for the same reason.
In other words we have moved to a system of roadside justice, and community jail systems to save money.
If people were properly charged with the offences they commit, and were forced to go through the court system to defend themselves, and at the end of that process, paid the price for their crimes, the crime rate would drop.
Having people pay huge fines, or do their time at home, saves the Government millions of dollars. In fact the Government can actually make money by not putting people in jail.
So, that is the crux of the matter. Government refusal to use the laws on the books, and to ensure that citizens are safe is as much a part of this problem as anything else.
The problem here is all in the word prolific. If someone is being labelled as such then it is obvious that our system has failed as they are not reforming to become acceptable members of society. The punishment given is not stern enough and any counseling provided probably is not going to help anyways as these offenders have no respect for rules and other members of society. The punishment they receive isn’t enough to deter them from continuing on the path that they are choosing for themselves.
If they continue to act in an unacceptable way and continue to demonstrate poor life choices, why are they allowed their freedom when they have clearly shown that they don’t respect that privilege.
We see how well that works in the USA.
We see how well a different strategy works in other countries who have improved re-habilitation programs.
We have examples of both, as well as examples of countries which are very close to lawlessness.
The Canadian system is somewhere between the USA’s and those countries which believe in re-habilitation.
Too many on here want to get us to the USA system. Since “bleeding hearts” can be used to describe some those on one side of this discussion, then we need to use the term of “mob justice” for those on the other. KKK of old, here we come.
How many did not like the reference by Hedy Fry some 15 years ago to cross burning on the lawns of PG. When I look at the predominant comments on here, she was obviously not far from the truth.
Is it any wonder why PG gets such reputations.
Gopg2015, your comment “Is it any wonder why PG gets such reputations.” is ridiculous. You seem to infer that PG has a reputation that stands apart from other communities and one that differs from the bleeding hearts, when in fact I would suggest that there are many of us, from ALL parts of Canada that are getting rather tired of the bleeding hearts and their constant excuses for those that exhibit antisocial behaviors!
Bleeding hearts are everywhere, as are those that feel that people should be held to account for their actions or inactions! Unfortunately there is far to much “it’s not my fault” and not enough “I accept responsibility for my actions”!
In an earlier post you stated “Get rid of terms like “bleeding hearts”, and we might be able to have a conversation on equal grounds.”
I hope that I am wrong, but your comment seems to reflect the “holier than thou” attitude of those of the “bleeding hearts” mentality!
Have a conversation on equal grounds? Pretty hard to do when “bleeding hearts” think they are so much better than the rest of society!
” then we need to use the term of “mob justice” for those on the other. KKK of old, here we come.” .. this is apples and oranges comparison. Mob justice infers the mod will decide on the guilt or innocent, but in this case we are talking about people who have had a fair trial, apparently quite a few, and have been found guilty.
It would be my opinion, that it would be an enfringement to the civil rights, unless the client agrees to it.
So your sentenced for a crime for 10 years in the big house. You have served 4 years, and your condition for early release is a GPS tracking system. If you agree, to it you have to carry it for 6 years.
Let’s say you are perpetual life of committing petty crimes, you have been caught 4 times before and have spent more time in provincial jail than you have in public in the last 5 years. Your busted and facing a term of two years less a day. The judge says, once you are released after this crime has been paid, if you get caught again on an equal or worse crime again, we will place a GPS tracking system into you. you will still serve another term. So in the next 729 days ahead of you in the system, you have to make your decision to change your life, or become a dot on our screen.
Hey, GPS tracking system, I think being a law abiding citizen, I wouldn’t mind having this if I get alhezimer, and end up in a home. At least my loved ones can find me. LOL
Wear a medic alert armband or pierce your earlobe and wear a piece of jewelry if you think you are going to take your armband off.
The ignorance is astounding!!
I don’t think even a judge can order someone to undergo a procedure that places a foreign object in a persons body.
I understand the thought process, and it might work, or they may just cut it out…
will it happen , probably not…
down the road it may….
right up there with taking a DNA sample when we are born…and the SYSTEM is still quietly trying to get that done as well… good luck to them.
Does anyone even know whether a functional GPS tracking chip can be INJECTED into people at this time?
Basically it would have to be an active transponder, which means a small antenna as well as some access to energy such as a battery or feed off human tissue.
Data chips planted into animals, passports in such countries such as Canada and the USA, identity cards, products purchased at stores which have included tracking chips – apparently Walmart adds them and when the buzzer goes off at the door when it has not been deactivated they know exactly what it is in your cart of 17 items which is the culprit – and so on are all activated with a scanner that is within a range of up to 20 metres or so.
There are many security risks with such products since they can be scanned fro personal information contained on the cards.
The codes on the chips in British passports were apparently cracked within 24 hours.
There is much more to the practicality as well as the privacy issue than most people understand or even care about.
Shhh… we both know the technology for GPS tracking chips does not exist yet, but lets not ruin the illusions (delusions?) of Williams Lake Council and all their supporters on here.
1. We will not be putting any tracking systems under anyone’s skin. This is something that Hitler might have done, however it has no place in Canadian society.
2. I am surprised that people would actually discuss this prospect to the length they have.
3. Williams Lake Council needs to be taken to task for even suggesting such a program.
4. Most people in BC do not have a clue as to how many criminals we have, how many are out on various forms of release, how many held in remand, and how many incarcerated for crimes committed.
5. I suggested in an earlier post that the problem lies with roadside justice, and the refusal of the Government to charge people with the appropriate crime and try them in our courts. That’s what courts are for.
6. We are circumventing our own justice system to save money, and the results are 100% negative, however the Government does not have the will, or the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing.
7. We seem to forget that once a criminal finishes his sentence for a crime, he is then deemed to have paid the price for committing that crime. If he offends again then off he goes again, however making it easier for him is not the solution.
8. Once we have all the criminal wearing chips, we would then of course have to hire a bunch of people to track them. While we are tracking them, how do we determine that they are committing a crime?? Do we force them to stay within a certain area and if they go outside the area, do we then track them down and arrest them???
9. The is a **bogus** idea, and will never be implemented.
And who gets to decide what is a criminal. The politicians? HaHa Ha Ha ha
Repeat offenders are scum and I would have no problem with having them wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. The injection thing is a bit over the top.
The nuts of BC’s interior have once again made the news.
ctvnews.ca/canada/putting-fear-into-people-b-c-city-council-wants-to-track-criminals-with-gps-implant-1.2792048
from: motherboard.vice.com/read/canadian-city-plans-to-track-offenders-with-technology-that-doesnt-even-exist-gps-implant-williams-lake
“Councillor Scott Nelson, who put the motion forward, told me over the phone that ankle-worn GPS devices don’t go “far enough,” and that chosen offenders could be harassers, sex offenders, or “people smashing stuff in the community.”
“Williams Lake will request assistance in implanting non-existent devices from the Union of B.C. Municipalities and the North Central Local Government Association.”
Let’s see whether this will be laughed out of existence from those organizations and what our local council members will have to say if they get sent a letter to support it.
This would be funny if it were not so seriously presented. And to think that these people are voted in to a Council to give direction and manage a city.
The best comment I read on this in some of the articles throughout the country on this “news” was:
“1984 was a warning for the public not a manual for governments”
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