Courts consider new policy for GPS monitors
No shortage of devices, judge says
A recent uptick in court orders to equip criminal defendants with GPS bracelets has Albuquerque court officials considering new policy that would help judges determine when such monitoring is appropriate.
Despite recent television and online reports that a GPS shortage was to blame for Justin Hansen’s elongated stay in the county jail, Chief District Judge Nan Nash said in a news conference Monday that the attempted murder suspect is being held for unrelated reasons. Although the court has seen an increase in orders for GPS monitoring, everyone who needs a GPS bracelet has one, Nash said, and no one who is ordered to wear one is released from custody without it.
Hansen, 33, is accused of beating a teenager with a shovel in 2008. Judge Charles Brown ruled last week that Hansen would not have to remain in jail pending trial, but he set in place strenuous conditions for release, among them GPS monitoring and a requirement that he find someone to live with who would also supervise him at all times.
As of Monday evening, Hansen was still in jail. Nash said she did not know why, but she said there are certain conditions Pretrial Services must be sure are in place before he can be released. Hansen’s defense attorney, Rose Osborne, said the delay could be related to the unusual nature of Brown’s order. She said Pretrial Services might be taking some time to develop a plan that will ensure those conditions are enforced correctly.
Nash said the court’s Pretrial Services division, charged with monitoring freed defendants pending trial, has had a rise in cases in recent weeks, along with a corresponding rise in orders for GPS monitoring.
“Either we need more GPS monitors,” she said, “or we need to really pay attention as to who we’re assigning GPS monitors to and make sure they’re only being assigned in appropriate cases.”
She attributed the Pretrial Services caseload increase to two factors: a new risk assessment tool adopted last month by the 2nd Judicial District Court, and new state Supreme Court rules addressing pretrial release and detention.
Nash said there was a twohour period last week in which no GPS monitors were available, but she also pointed out that no one was in need of a monitor at that time, and that the bracelets are constantly being returned and reassigned.
Nash said she told judges last week that the court was “running short on GPS monitors” and asked them to “use them very sparingly” until policy examining when monitoring should be ordered is in place.
She said 111 released defendants, about 25 percent, are currently outfitted with a GPS bracelet.
“In jurisdictions similar to ours, they’re used in about 10 percent of cases,” she said.
While it’s something officials will take a closer look at, Nash said she doesn’t think there’s a need for additional monitors, which cost about $1,800 each. The monitors track a defendant’s movement using the Global Positioning System.