To make point, GOP D.A. candidate gets ankle bracelet

Fans of the game "Where's Waldo?" get ready for Philly's political version: "Where's Mike?"

That's Mike as in Untermeyer, the Republican candidate for Philadelphia District Attorney.

To demonstrate how technology could save taxpayer millions in housing and caring for prison inmates, Untermeyer this morning was fitted out with an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.

"This will save the city millions and, more important, save lives," Untermeyer said, as Tim Barttrum, a vice president for Sentinel Offender Services, tightened one of his company's GPS-linked cell-phone equipped bracelets around the candidate's left ankle.

By the end of today - and for the next 30 days - visitors to the candidate's website www.UntermeyerForDA.com will be able to connect to a map that will track his movements minute-by-minute 24/7.

"If I'm late for campaign appearance," Untermeyer said, "you'll know exactly where I am."

The point behind the demonstration, Untermeyer said, is to show Philadelphia could make greater use of electronic monitoring technology to track criminal defendants rather paying to keep them behind bars.

The city currently has about 800 people on electronic monitoring awaiting trial, but Untermeyer said the city could easily take another 1,000 incarcerated individuals and safely put them on the street or under house arrest with the technology.

Untermeyer said he would limit use of the electronic ankle bracelets to those charged or convicted of non-violent offenses.

Untermeyer, a former assistant district attorney, faces Democratic candidate Seth Williams in the Nov. 3 general election.