(INDIANAPOLIS) – Authorities will have to keep closer tabs on suspects released from jail with ankle monitors, under a bill headed for Governor Holcomb.
The bill requires parole, probation and community corrections officers to alert their supervisors within 15 minutes if a GPS monitor stops working, or if a suspect goes where he’s not allowed to go. Police would be required to seek an arrest warrant as quickly as possible, and send an officer to arrest him within two days — if it’s a violent offender, within an hour.
Indianapolis Senator Kyle Walker (R) says that’s an “aggressive” schedule, but says the public needs to be confident that police will actually enforce monitored release. He says different departments have varied widely in how quickly they go after violators.
The bill also requires police to notify victims considered at risk for harassment or violence within 15 minutes of an offender’s monitor going dark. And it requires officers to make an in-person check at least once a month to confirm offenders are wearing the monitor as instructed.
Walker says the bill still allows ankle monitors, but says he hopes it’ll make counties think about when it’s appropriate. In 2020, Marion County was monitoring four-thousand people at a time, one of the highest totals in the country. Walker says that total could probably be reduced at both ends of the spectrum — he says some violent offenders have violated electronic monitoring requirements before and should be in jail, while nonviolent suspects who aren’t a flight risk might not need to be monitored at all.
The bill is the first of five anti-crime bills introduced by Indianapolis Senate Republicans to reach Holcomb’s desk. House and Senate negotiators are trying to iron out differences on bills to limit the activities of bail charities and encourage cooperation among Marion County police agencies. A bill creating a half-million-dollar crime prevention grant fund for Marion County died in the House, but could still be revived in the final days of the session.
