Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, BRPD propose new ankle monitoring program in city-parish

BATON ROUGE – There are concerns that monitoring companies who keep an eye on criminals in East Baton Rouge could be too lax. 

Wednesday night, BRPD and members of the EBR Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) went to the Metro Council asking for $200,000 to fund a new electronic monitoring program that would be run by police instead of outside companies. 

“The whole point of this program is to collect the data,” Niles Haymer with the CJCC told the Metro Council. 

The goal is to keep a better eye on people who are accused of some of the most serious crimes but aren’t locked up. 

It was an idea that Councilman Dwight Hudson agreed with. 

“This is a problem that we need to address, and the way this is proposed will help us address it more quickly,” Hudson said. 

But the idea was met with some opposition. Chauna Banks, Daryl Hurst, and Cleve Dunn expressed concern over how it would affect small businesses if the government steps in. 

Dunn thinks the private monitoring vendors should be included in this process. 

“I do think there needs to be some structure, but your goal is to have BRPD, some government agency, replace the free market. I’m against that,” Dunn said. 

The item was deferred for 45 days. 

The council is expected to debate the program further in the new year.