TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Probation officers in southern Arizona are using a satellite-based GPS system to monitor about two dozen sex offenders who are required to wear ankle bracelets that track their whereabouts.

Probation officers can download data whenever they want to check where a defendant has been and whether they're keeping to their pre-approved schedules.

David Sanders, Pima County's chief probation officer, said officers can also sit at a computer screen to watch a probationer move from place to place in real-time.

In each case, Sanders said, the child molesters are told there are certain areas where they can't go, such as playgrounds, school yards and victims' neighborhoods. If they go into an "exclusionary zone," the ankle bracelet sounds an alarm and notifies their probation officers.

Probation officers can then immediately call the police if they believe it's necessary, Sanders said.

Pima County probation officers are monitoring nine local residents, plus 16 people who live in other southern Arizona counties that don't have the necessary equipment, said Barbara Johnson, who supervises the sex offender unit of Pima County Adult Probation.

Johnson stressed that probation officers are still doing the same checks they did before GPS - making unannounced visits to homes and jobs, testing for drugs and alcohol and meeting with probationers on a regular basis.

"Just because they are on GPS doesn't mean we sit back," Johnson said. "It's just another tool for us to use."

Sanders said the only sex offenders who are fitted with the GPS monitors right now are those convicted of "dangerous" crimes against children, who have been placed on probation.

The number who fall into that category is relatively small because most people convicted of such crimes are sent to prison, Sanders said.

There are some sex crimes that are not considered "dangerous" under Arizona law, Sanders said.

But the number is expected to increase because there are a few dozen people in prison now who will have to spend time on probation after they're released, Sanders said.

The state is paying for the bracelets, which cost $6 a day, Sanders said.

Pima County Public Defender Bob Hirsh said he has problems with GPS monitoring, especially considering the cost.

"They've got to know where these people are every second of every day? What's the point of that?" Hirsh said. "I think it's all pretty circumstantial. I'm found near schools every day going to and from the grocery store."

There is no correlation between someone being successful on probation and GPS, Hirsh said. Some people succeed on probation because they've decided to change their behavior, and others simply because they are in a more structured environment.

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Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.azstarnet.com

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