My goal in sharing the information below is to reach legislators who are in a position to provide oversight or change who holds these contracts. Not much for me to add except to say these ankle bracelets do not broadcast locations accurately or consistently and now 3000 of them are being replaced in batches with as little notice to the public as either the court system or the vendor can manage:
Probation department replacing 3,000 ankle bracelets for criminals
The move by the probation department comes as the electronic monitoring program continues to lose track of hundreds of people each month, people whom it is supposed to be watching.
“I call these modern-day ball and chains with a major defect,” said a woman on probation. The woman agreed to talk with 5 Investigates about problems with her ankle bracelet if her identity is protected.
“It had a weak signal to it and it kept going in and out and I received phone calls from the company where I had to go outside (to try to get the signal back),” said the woman. “If I didn’t go out there, they’d send the police because it looks as though you’re tampering with it.”
“Do you worry that you could get arrested and not be doing anything wrong?” asked investigative reporter Mike Beaudet.
“Yes, oh, most definitely. Most definitely,” she replied.
The Northeastern University School of Journalism documented the extent of the problems last year, showing that hundreds of arrest warrants are issued every month for people on probation when the signal to their electronic monitoring devices is lost.
The public is left with a false sense of security, while police are arresting some accused and convicted criminals, even though they are at home, right where they are supposed to be. [Deb interjects: This bothers me and should bother you]
The probation department has blamed the problems on “poor cell coverage,” which led a superior court judge in Lowell to refuse to order anyone to wear an ankle bracelet.
In response to the criticism, the probation department opened an after-hours satellite office inside the Quincy Police Department.
It is a place where people wearing ankle bracelets who are cut off from the system can go and have their electronic monitoring units fixed or replaced, and avoid an arrest.
But that move is not without controversy. Since February, more than 200 accused and convicted criminals have traveled to Quincy from across the state at night, when the courts — which handle these matters during regular business hours — are closed. Those probationers have included sex offenders, rapists, child predators and armed robbers.
“People that work at the bars, work late, coming off their shift and have no idea of this. That’s kind of concerning,” said one woman in Quincy.
“Well, I think they didn’t tell the public for a reason. I don’t think they want the residents to know there’s sex offenders and people you wouldn’t (want) around your family and kids at night,” said another.
The probation department declined to be interviewed on camera, but spokeswoman Coria Holland tells 5 Investigates, “The collaboration with Quincy police has been successful as there have been no incidents involving probationers utilizing the site.”
Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch also defended the program.
“Everything concerns me,” said Koch. “But the reality is the way this program is designed and works is these are people that are in the system and continue to be in the system and have to behave or they’re going to have a problem.”
Meantime, the process of replacing all the faulty ankle bracelets is moving slowly.
So far, 403 of the 3,000 units have been replaced, but the probation department says the rest will all be replaced in the next few months.
Despite all the problems, the state has been paying millions to 3M Electronic Monitoring, the contractor providing the ankle bracelets. Since fiscal year 2012, they have paid $19,000,000, and they have paid nearly $7,000,000 in fiscal year 2016.
3M said it continually strives to improve its products and says the new ankle bracelets provide the most reliable coverage.