Did one of the POIs cut the ankle bracelet off on Wednesday the 12th or the 19th?
My only knowledge of ankle monitors is from tv/movies...aren't the police notified if it is tampered with or removed?
Well, you'd think so, right? I used to believe that an alarm of some kind goes off and LE would know the suspect would be tampering with th ankle bracelet, etc...
But after seeing two cases where the suspects awaiting trial, on home detention, cut off their ankle monitors and committed other crimes, with no one coming to ask why they were no longer 'at home' , I had a rude awakening.
Apparently, when someone is awarded home detention by the court, there are various 'companies' that might handle the business of ankle monitoring. It used to be the local PD that handled it, so at that time, LE was notified if the suspect cut it off, etc....and cops would go to the address and search for the suspect, often taking them into custody.
However now it has become a private business type situation in some cities or counties. And the defendant has to 'pay' for the monitor service for the luxury of home detention instead of jail. Apparently some of these private companies leave a lot to be desired. They may or may not actually have the staff to keep up with the computerised monitors, and many people are reporting that they can be easily tampered with and no one bothers to follow up if so.
One of the main reasons is that the GPS monitor systems have numerous 'false positive' reports, or glitches, where an alarm notifies authorities but it is erroneous. Some defendants report that it can happen dozens of times in a short span. So after awhile some respondents may shrug and ignore it, checking it off as mistaken.
So I don't have as much faith as I used to about someone being detained at home safely.
Advocates say San Francisco's electronic monitoring system has reduced incarceration and brought important reforms to the city criminal justice system, but critics say it's led to increasingly violent offenders being released who are committing violations with little consequence.
www.ktvu.com
Defendants on ankle monitors in SF commit violations with little consequence, critics say
By Evan Sernoffsky
Published June 2, 2022
...compared with the 365 people on the program last month.
Among that group, 220 people are awaiting trial for violent crimes like rape, attempted murder, robbery, kidnapping and more. Another 31 had illegal weapons charges – like being a felon in possession of a loaded firearm. And 17 others had violated domestic violence restraining orders.
Some months, up to 50 defendants just cut off their monitors and disappear. The monitors cost more than $500 each and are often never recovered or permanently damaged, officials said.
"They’re throwing them off of freeways. They’re throwing them into the bay. They’re throwing them into garbage cans. They’re throwing them on roofs," Kuhns said.
"When you put no conditions on someone or very few conditions on someone – and when there are no consequences – then this is where it ceases to be an effective program," said Chief Deputy Michele Fisher, who works in the unit with Kuhns.
She added that ankle monitors do very little to keep the public safe.
"It’s not the piece of plastic that’s going to stop someone who has intentions to commit a crime and hurt other people," she said.
KTVU found dozens of examples of defendants who were put on ankle monitoring only to commit more alleged crimes.