The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage said yesterday that “several” companies have expressed an interest in taking over the government’s electronic monitoring programme and a decision is expected to be made very soon.

Dr Nottage said the contract has gone out to bid and the government has specifically outlined to these companies what their previous concerns with the programme were and what they expect to be improved.

Dr Nottage and Minister of State Keith Bell have repeatedly criticised ICS Security Concepts, the company that currently has the contract, over its handling of the electronic monitoring programme.

In fact, Dr Nottage said last year that “the ankle bracelet monitoring system is not worth the money the government has invested in it”. This time, Dr Nottage said, the government hopes to correct all the previous issues.

“The persons interested in providing the service have submitted their tenders and they are being examined now by the committee that was set up for that purpose. That process won’t take much longer,” he said.

“We have had fewer issues with the monitoring system than in recent times. The government is bringing a bill to parliament soon to deal with matters related to persons out on bail.

“The recommendations and concerns we had were sewn into the reference for proposals so anything we thought was going wrong with the system will now be included in the new agreement and once that comes into being we hope we will no longer have those problems.”

Dr Nottage also said the government has also installed more than 250 CCTV cameras throughout New Providence, but because “the final arm of the contract is not completed, there has been no official handover of the software and hardware but we are working on it”.

The first electronic monitoring contract expired last November.  ICS Security Concepts was given an extension to accompany the bidding process. They are currently managing the programme on a month-to-month basis.

ICS manager Gari Gonzalez previously told the media that most of the people who commit criminal acts while wearing ankle bracelets do so by “exploiting the ability to roam free”.

He suggested the courts establish for each device-wearer “a combination of inclusion zone, exclusion zone and curfew that must be strictly adhered to as a condition of receiving bail or probation”.

With this requirement, he said, the person being electronically monitored would be confined to their home parameters and restricted from entering specified areas.

There are about 400 offenders being monitored at this time.