EAST CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Middlesex County Sheriff's Office of East Cambridge, Mass., has entered into an agreement for iSECUREtrac's tracNET24 criminal justice tracking system. Middlesex County Sheriff James V. DiPaola announced that he will be using the global positioning systems to track inmates who are released unsupervised into the community.

Prior to a public demonstration of the actual components and the software program, DiPaola stated, "The cost of the technology is important to discuss because it is an extremely beneficial part of the program. In these tough fiscal times, we are talking about the difference between having a $100 daily cost of housing an inmate in a locked facility compared to an $8.95 expense of having that same inmate on a GPS bracelet. The cost of the GPS bracelet will be incurred by the inmate."

The GPS is part of the sheriff's GPS Offender Active Locator Program (GOAL). GPS technology allows the Middlesex Sheriff's Office to check the location of an inmate every 10 seconds. The GOAL program will first be applied to minimum security level offenders. This technology advances the mission and capabilities of public safety agencies beyond that of traditional electronic monitoring systems. The whereabouts and daily travel habits are stored in a database and can be matched against local police department's crime statistics, making this a powerful investigative tool.

"This program provides the criminal justice system with a viable alternative to a locked cell for appropriate offenders without compromising public safety," said DiPaola. "I am committed to providing the highest level of safety and security to the public that I am sworn to protect. I am committed to providing these services as efficiently as possible -- utilizing every method available to enhance public safety -- combining common sense approaches and sound fiscal principles."