Sex Offenders Not Required To Wear GPS For Life: Bartow Complies

BARTOW COUNTY, GA — The Bartow County Sheriff’s Office Sex Offender Registry Unit complies with March 4th Georgia Supreme Court ruling.

According to Sheriff Clark Millsap, in the recent ruling, the court determined that Georgia law O.C.G.A. 42-1-14(e) is unconstitutional in the requirement that a person classified as a sexually dangerous predator who is no longer in custody, on parole or probation wear a GPS monitoring device. Under the law as it was written, offenders who receive the designation as a sexually dangerous predator must wear and pay for an electronic monitoring system for the remainder of their natural life.

According to Sheriff Millsap, the BCSO Sex Offender Registry Unit confirmed that all four of the Bartow County persons designated as sexually dangerous predators who are no longer on any sentence status, probation or parole, have had their GPS tracking devices removed to conform to this ruling.

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"Nothing in this ruling relieves a person determined to be a sex offender from the requirements of registering in the county they reside in and following the rules of the registry," said Millsap. "The BCSO Sex Offender Registry Unit will continue to require adherence to the law for all Bartow County sex offenders."