Prompt GPS Arrest

On April 27, 2006 at 0817 hours the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office communication center received a GPS alert that Eric William Smith (DOB 08-07-1967) had entered an "exclusionary" zone placed around the victim's residence. Smith had been released by a pre-trial agreement on April 10, 2006 due to a charge of Domestic Violence and had been placed on the Global Positioning Satellite system (GPS) as a condition of that agreement. At that time he was also served with a Domestic Violence Injunction that prohibited any contact with the victim. Upon placing him in the program he had a GPS monitoring device strapped to his leg to alert the sheriff's office of his whereabouts at any given time. To ensure the safety of the victim an "exclusionary" zone was placed around her home and any entry into that zone by her husband would set off an alarm. When the alarm alerted the dispatchers, the call was immediately routed to patrol deputies who reacted by not only moving to protect the victim but also to search for the offender. In this case, deputies were dispatched immediately and Smith was located at the corner of Treasure and Pepper Street at 0825 hours. He was placed into custody within eight (8) minutes of the alert and transported to the Santa Rosa County jail by Deputy Jamey Kahalley for violation of a Domestic Violence Injunction. Sheriff Wendell Hall took over the program in Santa Rosa County the first part of April 2006 in order to establish a unified system to ensure the safety of its citizens especially those of domestic violence and other aggressive crimes.