A February 2013 investigation by the Los Angeles Times showed that “thousands” of high-risk sex offenders and parolees were routinely removing or disabling their GPS tracking devices. And these individuals have little risk of being caught because California's jails are apparently too full to hold them.

On Saturday, the Times revealed significant portions of previously-redacted documents from state reports on two rival GPS tracking device manufacturers (3M and Satellite Tracking of People [STOP], based in Houston). Last year, California judges concealed significant sections of these after state officials argued publicizing such information could inform potential violators and "erode public trust" in the system. The newly released information shows just how problematic the tracking anklets made by 3M were.

California began this statewide monitoring program in 2008, splitting the device contracts between 3M and STOP. More than a year ago, California began testing the monitors currently in place on the nearly 8,000 convicted-but-now-released sex offenders, parolees, and felons within the state. As the Times reported regarding the 3M devices, “Corrections officials found the devices used in half the state were so inaccurate and unreliable that the public was ‘in imminent danger.’” State officials immediately ordered a mass replacement of all 3M ankle monitors in use, opting instead for the STOP products.

"Inundated with defects"

The Times elaborated on the 3M device issues:

One agent who participated in the tests, Denise LeBard, said in a court statement that 3M's ankle monitors were "inundated with defects." Among the problems: 3M's devices failed to collect a GPS location every minute, phone in that information every 10 minutes and forward a text message to a parole agent if a problem was detected. Without revealing how well STOP performed, the state said 3M collected only 45 percent of the possible GPS points. Testers also were able to fool 3M's GPS devices by wrapping monitors in foil, something that triggers an alarm on STOP's device because it has a metal detector.

3M subsequently sued, arguing that state officials had rigged the evaluations.

"This is one agency's testing," Steve Chapin, vice president of government relations for 3M's electronic monitoring division, told the Times. "We have the most widely used system in the world. It's been proven time and time and time again to be very safe and reliable."

New York man disabled, removed GPS anklet in 60 seconds

Back in 2006, California voters approved a ballot measure to put GPS tracking “anklets” on sex offenders that would monitor them for life—joining 23 other states across the country. California’s system was activated in 2008. As with any technology, it didn’t go quite as swimmingly as its designers intended.

GPS devices aren’t just problematic in California: a recent journalistic investigation into the use of similar devices in Wisconsin also illustrated massive problems with its program. Last year, a Tennessee audit showed that more than 80 percent of alerts from GPS-monitored offenders “were not cleared or confirmed” by corrections agents.

Earlier this month, a New York man took his GPS tracking device apart, removed it, and reassembled it in 60 seconds. He later allegedly raped a 10-year-old girl and stabbed a woman in a small town in the suburbs of Syracuse, New York.