The latest on Offendar

As previewed in this post, Ohio legislators on Wednesday heard about the latest technocorrections idea for keeping track of sex offenders.  Here are the latest details from this new AP story:

A tiny electronic device that could warn people when a sex offender is approaching was grabbing attention at the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday. Offendar, a sex offender radar invented by a northeast Ohio company, is about the size of a key fob and vibrates when picking up the signal from a parolee’s monitoring bracelet from up to 50 yards away.

State Sen. Tim Grendell, a Chester Township Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee on Criminal Justice, asked the device’s Chagrin Falls makers, Offendar LLC, to host 90 minutes of demonstrations of the patent-pending technology for lawmakers Wednesday….

Not everyone supports the idea.  David Singleton, executive director of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center, called the concept “utterly ridiculous and absurd.”  He said it plays on fears in the community while penalizing people who have already served time in prison for their crimes. “What are we trying to do, make it impossible for people to get on their feet again and be productive citizens?” Singleton said.  “This is crazy and I’m outraged by it, because it doesn’t make my daughter any safer.”

The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center’s Lindsay Fello-Sharpe said nine in 10 sex crime victims are assaulted by a person they know or trust. “This just plays on the great myths out there, such as the stranger danger myth that’s not true,” she said. “It’s sending the wrong message and setting people up with a false sense of security.”