ANNAPOLIS — Washington County Sheriff Douglas Mullendore said he is hopeful local judges will require some domestic abusers to be monitored with an electronic tracking system.

A bill sponsored by Del. Christopher B. Shank, R-Washington, that would have allowed those who violate protective orders to be outfitted with global positioning satellite (GPS) tracking devices has been withdrawn. He said local judges still could require GPS tracking without legislation if someone violates a protective order.

Shank hopes Washington County judges will begin a type of pilot program for the GPS monitoring.

He has said his bill could have protected Hagerstown resident Alison Munson, who Douglas Wayne Pryor is charged with killing in 2007. Pryor also is charged with the murder of Smithsburg Police Officer Christopher Nicholson. Munson was granted a protective order Nov. 1, 2007, that barred Pryor from having contact with her. She was slain seven weeks later.

The GPS ankle bracelets allowed in Shank's bill could have been issued during bail review hearings for domestic abusers.

The bill would have required judges to consider a behavioral assessment - known as the "lethality" assessment - to determine whether those who have violated protective orders or domestic abusers who are released on bail should be required to wear the tracking device.

The same technology is used to track sex offenders.

Mullendore said he plans to meet with judges soon to determine whether they would consider requiring GPS tracking for domestic abusers who violate protective orders.

Shank said he withdrew his bill this year rather than have it killed by a House of Delegates committee. He said the committee chairman said he had concerns about how the GPS technology would work and which offenders would be monitored.

The issue will be discussed by the Governor's Family Violence Council, and Mullendore has volunteered to assist.

Mullendore said he believes the issue creating concern over the bill involves the agency that will do the monitoring. He said a third party could monitor the offenders, and some type of notification could be sent to the victim when the offender is within a certain distance.

"That gives us the opportunity to respond and prevent the action rather than deal with it after," Mullendore said.

He said he prefers Shank's bill to those supported by Gov. Martin O'Malley that would prevent domestic abusers from owning guns. Mullendore said Shank's GPS bill would prevent the abuser from having contact with the victim, no matter what weapon was used.

Shank said he received letters from a victim of domestic violence in support of his effort to monitor domestic violence abusers, and also from a friend of Munson, who believes Shank's bill would have prevented her death.