Coalition questions swirl and insults fly in Parliament, ankle bracelet fears in wake of a leaked report and it’s officially the last week of winter. Video / NZ Herald / Getty / Telegram
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says he believes the Government should look at whether there should be further restrictions for people electronically monitored, after a “damning” police internal report.
The report, revealed by the Herald on Sunday, says criminals are “regularly” exploiting a “significant vulnerability” by wrapping tinfoil around their ankle bracelets and going on to re-offend.
Examples of the practice, known as foiling, include a Canterbury man leaving his home undetected and allegedly going to his ex-partner’s where he lay in wait and held her against her will, assaulting her multiple times, threatening to kill her and attempting to stab her.
Youths have also been foiling their bracelets before doing ram raids and smash and grabs.
Several photos of people foiling their ankle bracelets were in the internal police report.
The police risk assessment report, EM Bail - “Foiling” and Monitoring Limitations, says public safety will continue to be compromised because of a “combination of heightened demand and systemic monitoring limitations”.
The electronic monitoring (EM) regime for community-based offenders and bailees was “easily circumvented by motivated individuals”, through foiling, it says.
“The public and judiciary are likely of the opinion that offenders on EM are closely monitored at all times, this cannot confidently be assured by the current system.”
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister was asked about the report on The Mike Hosking Breakfast in relation to the 48 people facing charges for homicide-related offences on EM bail.
“Ultimately that’s a question for the judges who have agreed to that. I do think there are some emerging findings out of the review of the Auckland shooting that happened a few weeks ago that the Government will look closely at,” he told The Mike Hosking Breakfast.
“I’m certainly not saying that I’m completely comfortable with having violent offenders on electronically monitored home detention … and I think that we should look at whether there should be further restrictions there but those are reviews that are under way at the moment.”
Hipkins said the number of people who were on EM bail had gone up “significantly”.
“I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing but we should be looking at whether in fact it’s appropriate for all of those offenders.”
Asked when he would act on concerns, Hipkins told The Mike Hosking Breakfast when you have reviews under way, you wait to see what the outcomes of the reviews are before making any further decisions.
“It will ultimately be for the next Parliament, the Parliament after the election because Parliament finishes this week but it’s certainly something we will be looking very closely at.”
On Monday, a spokesman for Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis told the Herald he had “reiterated” to Corrections his expectation that “all breaches of electronic monitoring are dealt with and responded to as quickly as possible”.
Davis would wait to see what the review following the double-shooting in Auckland involving Matu Reid, which would look at electronic monitoring, recommends before making any comment about whether a review was needed.
New Zealand Parole Board chair Sir Ron Young told the Herald the most important consideration for the board was “community safety”.
“A monitoring device is an important tool the Parole Board can require as part of the offender’s special conditions of release to support their curfew or for victim protection.”
The board understood that the Department of Corrections was able to identify attempts by an offender to tamper with a monitoring device, including foiling.
“It is the Parole Board’s expectation that any alerts of this kind will be treated as a priority by the department and immediately investigated.”
The police report provides a breakdown of some of the country’s EM bail population.
There are 48 people on EM bail accused of “homicide and related offences”.
There are also 70 accused of kidnapping and abduction, 131 robbery, 465 grievous assaults, 211 serious assaults, 64 sexual offending, 211 burglary and car conversions and 179 firearms offences.
The report says there were 132 EM bailees nationwide who “pose a current staff safety risk as assessed under the Tactical Response Model”.
The report also provides a breakdown of EM bail breaches, by district in the 2022/23 financial year.
Counties Manukau, which has 21 per cent of the country’s EM bailees, led the country with 3699 bail breach incidents. Auckland City had 1807, Waitematā 1457, Wellington 904 and Canterbury 845.
On Monday, Police Assistant Commissioner Naila Hassan told The Mike Hosking Breakfast that “proportionately” the number of people breaching EM bail was no different in terms of a percentage as it was five or six years ago.
“The difference is there is a whole lot of more people on EM bail now,” she said.
“It’s a more demanding problem for us today than it was six years ago because of the volume.”
Appearing on Newshub’s The AM Show Hassan said the report was an “internal intelligence product”.
“It wasn’t a report for an external audience and on that basis we produce intelligence products for our people to identify emerging risk and for us to respond to that accordingly.”
Youths have been foiling their bracelets before going on to reoffend, the report says.
“I’m very concerned about it,” he said, adding he did not have confidence in the current system given the increase in people out on EM bail along with an increase in those absconding.
“They’re swamped, they’re completely totally overwhelmed. Corrections service is still well down on numbers and so all of them are just fighting to keep their heads above water.”
National would “definitely be making changes”, to the electronic monitoring system.
National's Mark Mitchell. Photo / Jed Bradley
‘Not fit for purpose’: Victim advocate not surprised
High-profile victim advocate Ruth Money told the Herald on Sunday she was not surprised by what the report said.
“Everybody in the system has known that EM bail is flawed, but they continue to use it.
“I’m really concerned from a community safety perspective but I guess that’s the reality of what I do every day. I’m shocked and disappointed, I’m actually thankful that police put that in writing so that then hopefully there’s some pressure that can change the system because it’s clearly not fit for purpose.”
People were “terrified”, she said; however, there appeared to be a push for people to end up on EM bail.
Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“It’s just not fit for purpose.”
“There certainly needs to be more resourcing because we’ve known for years, that as much as people think and the system wants us to think that it is monitored well with constant eyes, like real-time eyes on it, that’s just simply not the case and I guess this report shows that, or reinforces that.”
Money said there needed to be a process where someone had to earn EM bail, and disagreed victims’ considerations were taken into account when EM bail was considered.
“More often than not it’s the victims who know the offender, so victims are saying he will or she will do this, and people don’t take that seriously so they whack on a bracelet and the person absconds and harms them again,” she said.
“If you can wrap a bit of tinfoil around it, what is the point of having an EM bail system? It’s absolutely pointless and you’re going to have to incarcerate them, it’s as simple as that.”
Money said the report was “damning for the system”.
Victim advocate Ruth Money. Photo / Dean Purcell
“I think the report is honest, which you don’t often see out of government-funded departments, and for that I’m thankful. But it’s not surprising.”
Sam Sherwood is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers crime. He is a senior journalist who joined the Herald in 2022, and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
