Nebraska sex offenders deemed at high risk to offend again might get new fashion accessories: ankle bracelets and black boxes that track their every move.

Sen. Chris Beutler of Lincoln said he has asked for a meeting of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee to discuss funding options for high-tech ankle bracelets to track Level 3 sex offenders who are on probation or parole.

His plan is still in its beginning stages, he said this week, and nothing had been finalized.

That plan could hinge on hooking the Level 3 offenders, whom the state considers at the highest risk to offend again, to a global-positioning system that would use 24 U.S. Department of Defense satellites to track their every movement.

One of the companies Beutler talked with is Omaha-based iSecuretrac.

The company sells a two-piece system that consists of an ankle bracelet and a "personal tracking unit," a black box worn on a person's hip, said David DeGeorge, the company's vice president of sales.

Here's how it works: Zones are set up where the offender isn't allowed to go, such as playgrounds and schools.

Should the offender breach these zones, the box makes a cell phone call to police and the GPS system tracks the offender to within five meters.

If they try to remove the bracelet, it makes the same call."They cannot beat this technology," DeGeorge said.  

But, Beutler cautioned, bracelets cannot guarantee safety. Some offenders might offend again.

"It would make it much less likely," he said. "There's a safety element here that's very important."

A safety element that comes with a price tag.

As of earlier this week, 792 Level 3 sex offenders lived in Nebraska.Using the bracelets from iSecuretrac, the cost would vary from $4 to $9.50 a day per offender, for an annual fee of up to $2.74 million.

No funding decisions can be made until the Legislature convenes, and no agreement has been  reached to include iSecuretrac.

If approved, Nebraska would join the other states using similar technology to track sex offenders. In September, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney approved $1 million to don Level 3 sex offenders there with GPS-monitored ankle bracelets. And in July, the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole voted to start a pilot program using GPS in the Nashville and Memphis areas, according to published reports.

But such intensive monitoring is not without its critics. American Civil Liberties Union groups in other states have expressed concerns.

Tim Butz, executive director of Nebraska's ACLU, said his group generally opposes unnecessary infringements on personal rights.

But, he said, he didn't know the details of Beutler's proposal, so he wanted to learn more before voicing an opinion.

"A general idea can be carried out in many ways, and the devil is always in the details," Butz said. "And we'll have to see what the details are here."

Reach Leah Thorsen at 473-7246 or lthorsen@journalstar.com.