Editorial: What is the point of unmonitored electronic monitoring?

Electronic monitoring is one link in the chain of options when it comes to keeping track of people charged with or sentenced for a crime.

It falls between incarceration and the kind of release on bail where someone is restricted by fear of losing a posted bond.

Being released with a radio-frequency anklet is meant to allow authorities to tether a defendant, keeping them to approved locations such as home, work, a doctor’s office or meetings with an attorney.

The limits have been painted on television and in movies. The slightest deviation from geographical boundaries or any attempt to remove the device, and police show up in a heartbeat.

That isn’t exactly how it works. Obviously, it wouldn’t happen exactly the way it does on the big screen, but the police still show up when someone goes astray.

Right?

Not always.

On Friday, a hearing illustrated reality.

“We get a lot of alerts,” said Probation Supervisor Jason Bright. “They’re not all legit. If you get an alert, it’s not immediately checked upon.”

That’s certainly not comforting to the people who attended a North Side funeral Oct. 28 at which five people were shot. Why? Because Shawn Davis, the man charged with attempted murder of those five people at that funeral, was on electronic monitoring at the time.

Bright was testifying in an unrelated case Friday, called by Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Ramaley.

Ramaley was arguing the monitoring system is unreliable.

While the monitors can be temperamental and sensitive, the real issue is not whether the monitors go off when they shouldn’t. It’s what Bright said in court — the alerts aren’t always checked when notified.

Davis’ anklet alerted Allegheny County Adult Probation on Oct. 26 — two days before the funeral shooting.

Even more alarming, this was a pattern with Davis. Court records show ongoing issues with his monitoring. There is even a recorded call — played during that hearing Friday — in which Davis tells an Allegheny County Jail inmate how to take the anklet on and off.

Bright spoke of not wanting people penalized for equipment failure. That’s an important issue and a reasonable concern. However, that is why alerts should be followed up, not ignored because of an assumption of error.

If electronic monitoring is going to be used, it must be used entirely. It is critical to the function of the system. Without monitoring, the anklets are just jewelry.