San Francisco sheriff puts pre-trial ankle monitoring program on hold
San Francisco's ankle monitoring program for criminal defendants is on hold amid a dispute over a ruling by a federal judge.
About 400 people are currently wearing those monitors as they await trial, but the San Francisco Sheriff's Department won't be handing out any more until the dispute is resolved.
"It is for that reason that -- from the onset of this case -- our office and the city attorney's office have repeatedly made it clear that we could not safely administer this valuable program without the warrantless search condition," Sheriff Paul Miyamoto said at a press conference Thursday.
The sheriff requires that everyone who agrees to wear an ankle monitor, often as an alternative to jail, must consent to warrantless searches. A federal judge has decided that violates the right to privacy and freedom from unreasonable search.
Now the mayor, the city attorney and the district attorney are taking a united front, all saying the decision is not in the interest of public safety and presents a threat to a criminal justice reform tool.
"Unfortunately as you heard, that is going to mean potentially that more people have to be incarcerated, because the court is not going to have this option," District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said.
However, some point out that the sheriff suspended the program by his own choice.
"First, I want to note that it is not the federal court order that has required the sheriff to stop operating its program," explained Emi Young, a staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California. "It is the sheriff that has decided to stop operating [the program] as a result of the disagreement with the court's order."
The ACLU brought the case on behalf of three defendants.
"The problem here is that the sheriff is seeking to assert warrantless search authority in circumstances where a criminal court judge has already found that condition is inappropriate and unnecessary to supervise an individual who has been released," Young explained. "Roughly half of the people who are currently released on electronic monitoring in San Francisco or who were released to the program or not facing any violent charges."
"While 50% may not be serious violent felonies, we still have a large degree of our fentanyl dealers on ankle monitors," Jenkins said.
So the program is on hold, for now, and the sheriff says his department is making room.
"We anticipated increases, not just based on this decision, but also in anticipation of whether or not certain propositions are about to pass," Miyamoto said of the jail population.
In the meantime, the public defender's office is also criticizing the decision. They said the sheriff is choosing to sacrifice a valuable tool for public safety rather than comply with a federal court order.