GPS units mainly used after the act

Days after Brian Golsby was accused in the rape and killing of an Ohio State University student, authorities revealed that the convicted sex offender had been wearing a GPS monitor.

Why then, many asked, didn’t authorities know his whereabouts and prevent that crime?

Experts say those questions come from a misunderstanding of how GPS monitors track parolees such as Golsby.

“People think they get shocked or something. That’s not how it works,” said Ed Latessa, director of the University of Cincinnati Criminal Justice department.

GPS units aren’t intended to prevent crime, experts say. They’re most often used for sex offenders and in cases of domestic violence when judges order offenders to stay away from schools or an ex-spouse’s home or other specific areas. Often, GPS monitors are used on nonviolent, mid- to lowlevel felony offenders released from state prisons.

“If the guy was such a risk, he shouldn’t have been on parole,” said David Williams, a GPS expert and owner of E911LBS Consulting in St. Louis.

Golsby faces charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping and rape in the death of 21-year-old Reagan Tokes. Authorities say Golsby abducted the student in the Short North on Feb. 8 and then drove her to Grove City, where he raped and shot her. Court records indicate DNA on a cigarette butt in Tokes’ car led police to Golsby. They later confirmed he was at the scene of the killing with data from his GPS monitor.

In 2010, Golsby was charged with raping a woman in front of her 2-year-old child, and with robbing a woman in a second incident. Prosecutors said the rape victim did not want to testify, and both victims agreed to a plea agreement. Golsby, 29, pleaded guilty to robbery and attempted rape. He was sentenced to six years in prison followed by five years on parole. While in prison, Golsby was written up for several fights and other offenses.

“In the case of Golsby, (the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections) was legally bound to release him at the end of his sentence despite his poor conduct while in prison, and the Adult Parole Authority made the decision to impose the additional supervision condition of GPS monitoring because he was released without a permanent residence,” department spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said in an email.

Golsby was refused residence at the Alvis House because of his violent past. Alvis officials did put the GPS ankle monitor on him, and Golsby was living in a halfway house in the 1000 block of Forest Street.

The failure with GPS monitoring, experts agree, is the public’s misunderstanding of how it is used for parolees.

The monitors are mainly used to ensure that parolees report to their parole officers and don’t leave the area. They also can be used after the fact to see if parolees were near areas where

crimes occurred. Those on GPS monitors aren’t watched in real time. Authorities use software that allows them to punch in the parameters of where the parolee is allowed to go or not go. But even if the parolee violates those conditions, authorities often aren’t notified immediately.

“If the parole officer is on vacation or not near their phone or whatever, they’re not going to know about it,” Williams said.

Often, violations aren’t discovered until the next day, when authorities review reports of parolees’ activities.

Because many people have GPS on smartphones or in their cars, Williams believes the public has come to view GPS as a “real time” tool — and confuses a service that gives turn-by-turn directions to drivers with the reality of GPS used to monitor parolees.

“There is no continued watching,” Latessa said. “There is in some sense a false sense of security” by the public in believing GPS-monitored parolees are continuously watched by humans.

GPS monitors are for those who committed lower-level crimes, especially sex offenders. Golsby’s convictions were for attempted rape and robbery.

“There are times when it’s obvious who the worst of the worst are,” Ohio State University law professor Ric Simmons said. “But we didn’t know at the time that he was

one of the worst of the worst.

“For those terrible, terrible people, nothing works. Even GPS.”

The corrections department wouldn’t reveal the GPS restrictions on Golsby, but said it uses eight private companies to provide 133 GPS monitors for parolees. It costs about $16 per day per GPS monitor used. It costs about $70 per day to house a prisoner.

The cost of having human employees view parolees’ locations in real time would be too expensive for most government budgets, the experts said.

“It’s certainly not to be watched all the time,” Simmons said. “Frankly, that would be unrealistic.”

Tokes family issues statement

The family of Reagan Tokes, 21, issued what they called a “final statement” Friday night on their daughter’s death. In it, they thanked all of those who have extended assistance and kindness, including law enforcement.

“We will find a way to make a difference in this world for Reagan and all other victims of terrible crimes such as this,” the statement says. “The system is flawed and changes need (to) and will happen as a result of this senseless tragedy. We will work our entire lives if necessary to make this happen.”