When it comes to dangerous offenders, the best place for them is a jail cell. However, there are many people who are released into the community either because they are awaiting trial and so not yet convicted, or because they are on some form of probation or parole.

Many of the offenders awaiting trial or released on probation or parole are given certain restrictions, usually involving a curfew and restrictions on places they can be. Across North America, jurisdictions have been using electronic monitoring for many of these individuals to ensure that they are adhering to their curfew or mobility restrictions. Electronic monitoring units can notify police immediately when a person on probation or awaiting trial in the community is breaching the conditions of their release or if they are trying to remove an electronic monitoring device like an electronic bracelet.

Almost every province or state has an electronic monitoring program and many of them are expanding their programs. The State of Florida has as many as 4,000 people, including sex offenders, under electronic monitoring. In an extensive study completed in January of this year the United States Department of Justice determined that the use of electronic monitoring reduced the chance of an individual offending while out on probation or bail across all age groups and across all offender types.

That is one of the reasons that most areas, including most recently the province of Nova Scotia, are expanding electronic monitoring to better ensure the safety of their citizens.

The one notable exception is in NDP Manitoba. In Manitoba, there are between 10,000-12,000 outstanding warrants at any given time, many for people who have violated conditions of their release into the community. There are few places that could use more intensive monitoring more than Manitoba but the NDP have never made cracking down on probation and bail violators a priority.

In 2007, under pressure from the media and opposition Parties, the NDP reluctantly announced they would enter into an electronic monitoring program for 20 offenders. Not only was it the smallest commitment imaginable, the NDP also implemented the program in such a way that it seemed it was designed to fail.

For an offender, wearing an electronic ankle bracelet isn’t necessarily a deterrent in itself. The deterrent comes from knowing that if you remove it or if you are breaking your curfew, it is going to be acted upon quickly. The system that the NDP set up ensures that responses to breaches are so slow that they have very little impact at all.

So while other areas of North America are expanding their electronic monitoring program because of its success, the NDP are suggesting our very small program might end. It’s as though they giving up before they ever really tried. And maybe that was their intention all along. And as for the 10,000- 12,000 outstanding warrants, well those criminals once again benefit from an NDP government that likes to talk tough but do little to make our communities safer.