Welcome to my Blog. My name is Utahna Gates and I am the owner of Seymour Detection Services. I live in a small Central Texas town with a population of about 2000. My formal education is health-care related and I worked as a Physical Therapist Assistant for over a decade. Due to changes in the health care industry, I got the formal training to become a Computer Forensic Analyst and my A+ Computer Certification. In 2007, the Texas State Legislature changed Texas law to require a Private Investigators License to do computer forensic analysis so I had to choose to secure the license or change professions. I choose to use my computer knowledge and I took a job as a computer operations technician a local county entity.
In addition to my skills, my husband of 23 years, Randy, has been a licensed Texas Peace Office for over 20 years. In late 2009 he returned from a legislative update continuing education training and we discussed the new laws that recently went into effect. Of particular interest was House Bill 1506, which provides for electronic monitoring as a condition of release on bail for people charged with domestic violence. We had a several discussions about the new law and how it was a major improvement to the existing alternative of a protective order. I did research into the electronic monitoring companies and found most only sell or lease the equipment to governmental entities. I have also found the governmental entities are reluctant to allocate funds to support such a program.
The law passed does not prohibit a private company from providing the electronic monitoring service. It also provides safety to the victim per a magistrates order in conjunction with an emergency protective order. Research revealed there was a new device on the market called the Tattle-Tale. The equipment was developed in Sweden and is marketed by a company out of Ohio. I shortly scheduled purchase and training to secure several dozen devices.
Here is the kicker, the new devices provide real time GPS monitoring, but also provides alcohol monitoring; and before the end of the year, the devices will also provide monitoring for methamphetamine and marijuana. No other device on the market is capable of doing all of this.
On December 24, 2009 a high school friend of my husband's with was murdered by the estranged husband of one of his parishioners. The issue of electronic monitoring came up again and as a result, I became committed to finding a solution.
My husband said “Are you crazy?” A "woman" living in a rural central Texas town who weighs a little over 100 pounds wants to take on the one of the largest bureaucracies in the state, the Texas Criminal Justice System. Well, I've been called a lot of things over the years; just never late for dinner!
I've decided to take a stand and make a difference whenever possible to prevent further abuse. No one should have to sleep with one eye open!
