GPS ANKLE BRACELET A FIRST

Halifax Drug Offender First Nova Scotian To Wear Device

A Halifax man will have an ankle bracelet snapped around his leg
today as he begins serving six months of house arrest for drug offences.

The unnamed man will be the first person in Nova Scotia's new program
to electronically track people serving their sentences in the community.

The one-year pilot program will involve 25 offenders in Halifax
Regional Municipality. About 500 people in the province are serving
conditional sentences, half of them in HRM.

Nova Scotia is the first province in Canada to use global positioning
technology to supervise offenders, Justice Minister Murray Scott said
Tuesday. Others - Newfoundland, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and
British Columbia - use radio transmitters, which carry less information.

Offenders will wear a waterproof ankle bracelet and a device around
the waist that sends information back to a central monitoring centre.

"Staff at . . . the centre will be able to track the movement of
these offenders 24 hours per day," Mr. Scott said.

All participants are screened to determine their suitability. For
instance, they must be eligible for a conditional sentence, which is
two years or less, as well as having a fixed address and access to a
telephone. Also taken into consideration are the nature of the
offence, the risk to reoffend and risk to the public.

Mr. Scott said the province's Crown attorneys and judges have been
notified of the sentencing option.

The equipment can be programmed to send off an alert if an offender
enters an "exclusion zone," or prohibited area, said Gary Dupuis, a
corrections director with the Justice Department.

Tampering with the devices, such as trying to cut off the ankle
bracelet, will also set off an alert, he said.

The province is paying $100,000 to Mammoth Inc. of Halifax and
iSECUREtrac Corp. of Nebraska for the equipment and monitoring services.

The program will also reduce the time corrections staff must spend
making random visits to check on compliance with sentence conditions
- - "knocking on doors late into the night," Mr. Scott said.

He stressed that the program will help enhance general public safety.

Deputy Chief Chris McNeill of Halifax Regional Police was less
enthusiastic about its ability to protect the public.

Electronic monitoring is an additional tool, but "you can't rely on
it' to prevent all breaches, he said.

"If you have to be monitored 24-7 to make sure you comply with the
conditions of your undertaking, you need a guard," he said.

Deputy Chief McNeill said that in the past six months, Halifax police
have been monitoring 56 offenders who are on probation.

During that time, 62 per cent were charged with breaching the
conditions of their release or with new offences, he said.

Meanwhile, justice officials south of the border are finding other
uses for monitoring bracelets.

In about 20 or so states, people convicted of drinking and driving or
other alcohol-related crimes are being required to wear ankle
bracelets, called the Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor, or
SCRAM, as part of their sentences.

The device tests every hour for the presence of alcohol in an
individual's sweat and sends out an alert if it shows up.