Ankle monitors should only prevent crime -not prevent -, say DOC leaders, say the leaders of the documents

Anchorage, Alaska (Ktuu) -The state's ankle monitor system that uses GPS technology to pursue criminal accused before the legal proceedings should only prevent crime.

“The ankle monitor himself does not prevent anyone from committed,” said Delila Schmidt, monitoring the pre -judicial and probation for the department for corrections. “The ankle monitor is a deterrent. And it would notify the correction department if it has already entered a zone that has already been ordered.

Questions about the state system, which were stimulated by the public examination, after the heads of the DOC had confirmed to the news sources of Alaska, that accused wore ankle monitors in two top -class cases when the prosecutors had committed new crimes, while they were waiting for hearings in connection with similar allegations of crime.

Two key cases

The 34 -year -old Michael Krischuk wore a ankle monitor, confirmed the document when the police shot and arrested in January.

The prosecutors say that at the time the officer was shooted, Krischuk was on the run after a botched armed robbery in a spa on the Midtown Anchorage. Court documents show that on the same day on which he was also a suspect, in previous cases with armed robbery, drug possession and violation of the release.

DOC leaders also say that Fairbanks, suspect, the 24-year-old Adayus Robertson wore a ankle monitor and in April for a deposit due to previous attacks and against the conditions for release duties when the police said that Fort Wainwright's soldier killed 37-year-old Joseph Casas.

Show state numbers Krischuk and Robertson are just two examples of the 1,397 accused The staff of the DOC personnel for pre -judicial services is responsible Monitoring on the state level.

Of these, 821 are suspected of crime, including 397 in Anchorage and 93 in Fairbanks.

The list also contains 576 suspects, including 161 in Anchorage and 80 in Fairbanks.

According to the DOC, there are currently a total of 66 positions in front of the priority officer and five supervisory positions. The offices for DOC VORISILE Services are located in Anchorage, Dillingham, Fairbanks, Kenai, Palmer, Juneau, Ketchikan and Kodiak.

What are pre -judicial services?

As explained by Schmidt, it is a kind of supervision that is a kind of supervision for a defendant who is against the deposit and is waiting for the court hearing.

While the idea in the lower 48 is not new, Alaska only implemented it in 2018.

“If someone is charged with a crime, they go to accusation,” said Schmidt. “The Court of Justice can order the publication conditions. Part of the releases can include a GPS or a kind of alcohol monitor on a defendant as part of their condition.”

In addition, Betsy Holley, spokesman for the DOC spokeswoman, said pre-judicial enforcement officer, are responsible for taking into account the check-ins for each of the 1,397 pre-judicial accused and regularly planning to ensure that a accused complies with court conditions and at the same time protects public security.

In addition to electronic monitoring and regular checks, other methods can include the treatment of drug abuse or mental health and keep orders away.

“Preparation services can monitor the conditions imposed by the court at no costs for the accused person,” said Holley in a statement. “If the person was responsible for monitoring the conditions ordered by the court (GPS, alcohol tests, drug tests), this would impose an unfair monetary requirement until the case is solved.”

In order to see how the system works, the news source of Alaska examines together with the superiors who observe the check-in process and observe equipment, including batteries, and ensure that the accused are aware of the upcoming court appointments.

Instead of monitoring the employees of employees 24 hours a day, Schmidt is based on the fact that the electronic monitoring is based on so -called exclusion zones, which are based on the GPS technology in order to monitor the defendant's locations before the attempt.

According to the DOC executives, exclusion zones can look different depending on the case and sometimes limit the removal of a defendant from a location or victim or limit a defendant to house arrest.

“The monitor on which you are would notify us that you are in a zone in which you are not located,” said Schmidt. “Our officials would react depending on the available resources. The person would be taken into custody again.

“We also call the victim when the accused entered the zone in which the accused is located.”

A system that “doesn't solve these problems?”

While DOC leader argue that Alaska's acceptance of a pre -judicial service system keeps hearings on the right path in courtPresent ACLU by Alaska lawyer Doron Levine called Electronic monitoring of a system that, in his opinion, does not work.

“As a public defender, I represented hundreds, thousands of people who were accused of crimes. And I saw that many, many, many people were charged because of violations of the obligation to expose,” said Levine, who is part of the promotional intake program of the non -profit organization. “In my experience, most of the crimes in Alaska are caused by addiction and mental illnesses. So if you put a monitor on someone, this does not solve these problems.

“What we have to do, what doc has to do as an agency and what we have to do as a community is to think about how we approach these problems directly and help people with treatment and get access to services that they need to actually address these basic causes.”

The indictment of “violation of the state of approval” if the accused do not adhere to the publication conditions, while he is the most common defendant crime in Alaska for the deposit – Levine – Levine, which are both Krischuk and Robertson.

Levine argues that the backups of the court system and causes delays instead of reducing the relapse.

As shown in the cases of Krischuk and Robertson, the deposit is always part of the pre -judicial system. Court files show that a judge, before the anchorage officer, reduced the deposit of Krischuk from $ 10,000 to $ 2,000.

In the document of the document, however, the priority supervision claims to give the accused structure and support, while he is waiting for court appearances instead of changing to immediate punishment.

As for the argument that the supervision in court causes a court system delays, Holley referred to a examination of anchorage crimes that lasted five to ten years to solve the solution, in contrast to the legally required 120 days.

“The truth is that most people follow the rules in priority supervision. In fact, the investigation shows that supervision actually helps to stay on the right track by reducing missed judicial data and new crimes,” said Holley. “These delays are not due to the priority supervision. They are the result of greater challenges, such as the lack of public defenders and prosecutors, repeated continuations and system -wide residues … during pre -judicial surveillance, no magical solution for everything that plays a critical role for everything.

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