Ankle bracelets coming soon: Bates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/11/2024 (504 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government intends to implement the expansion of its ankle bracelet monitoring program in Brandon as early as December, according to Brandon Police Service Chief Tyler Bates.

A key aspect of the province’s recently announced public safety strategy, the program aims to rein in repeat parole violations using round-the-clock monitoring of certain bailed suspects through GPS-equipped ankle bracelets.

“There is supposed to be a provincial announcement that is going to provide a lot more detail with respect to ankle monitoring, and the expansion of that project within the province of Manitoba here,” Bates told the Sun on Wednesday morning. “We’re anticipating that (to happen) by Dec. 2.”

“Something more will be forthcoming in terms of the specifics of that expansion, but I can confirm that Brandon is … expanding into this particular electronic monitoring project,” said Bates, who took over as the Wheat City’s police chief in October.

The province announced the return of the program in August of this year. At the time, the government said it will allocate $2.9 million over a two-year period to fund the initiative and its expansion to municipalities outside Winnipeg. Currently, ankle monitors are only being used by law enforcement in Winnipeg.

Provincial Justice Minister Matt Wiebe previously told the Sun that although the program was starting in Winnipeg, discussions were ongoing with an eye to roll out the program across the province.

Bates said he has been told that the program will be completely funded by the provincial government, including all the costs associated with its implementation. He expects the province to make an announcement to the same effect by Friday.

“That’s certainly a positive with respect to the expansion and the roll out of this program,” Bates said. “It’s a provincial initiative. And I’m sure there’ll be more detail in the announcement on Friday that spells out what that would look like.”

However, when reached by phone on Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the province said she “cannot confirm today” whether an announcement will be made on Friday, though she noted that it might happen.

“We are going to do it,” she said. “It just may not be on Friday.”

The former Progressive Conservative government scrapped a previous ankle-bracelet program in 2017, with then-justice minister Heather Stefanson characterizing the program in place at the time as inaccurate and ineffective.

In 2023, when Stefanson was premier, then-justice minister Kelvin Goertzen announced the government was working on a new program for alleged offenders deemed a high risk to public safety, as well as a pilot program and more staff.

At that time, Goertzen said the decision to bring back an electronic monitoring program was based, in part, on improvements in technology.

Echoing his support for the initiative, Bates said the chance to bring this updated program to Brandon will provide local police with another avenue to intervene when there’s a breach of a court-ordered conditions.

“Typically, we’re reliant on a citizen that reports a breach of a bail violation (condition), and as you can well appreciate, that’s not always information that is forthcoming from the public.”

The GPS monitoring system in the ankle bracelet worn by an alleged offender who is out on bail alerts BPS officers if any of the restrictions imposed by a judge are violated. It also notifies law enforcement of a person’s geographical location in real time, which is an effective tool that can be used for timely interventions, Bates pointed out.

“That’s certainly proactive, I feel, on the part of the provincial government, and an enabler with respect to intervening prior to further incidents of criminality.”

Bates added that if there is a technology that enables police in the province to help prevent further harm to the community and local residents, then “we don’t want to be left out of that discussion.”

News of the pending announcement was greeted warmly by Progressive Conservative Justice Critic Wayne Balcaen on Wednesday, though he attributed the provincial NDP’s movement on the file to his party’s advocacy in the legislature and through the media.

“It shows that the PCs were on the right track,” Balcaen said. “The Tory government had budgeted for (a renewed ankle bracelet monitoring program) in the 2023 budget. I know I’ve said this a number of times — anything that this NDP government is doing … is recycling PC initiatives, and PC government policy.”

Though he said he was happy to see that the NDP intended to expand the program outside of Winnipeg to Brandon and the rest of the province, Balcaen said he would be paying attention to whether the government was going to put some actual funding behind the program expansion.

“Is this truly expanding the program, or is this just announcing the program to get more credit?”

» mgoerzen@brandonsun.com

» Bluesky: @mattgoerzen.bsky.social