Community Custody Program tracks ABQ offenders

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The jail's Community Custody Program has been hammered in recent years by a bribery scandal and by stories of violent criminals getting out on house arrest that should not have.

KRQE News 13 got a look at how the program works behind the scenes to see if those ankle monitors they wear really help keep residents safe.

“You’re not going to come out and sit at home and do nothing,” Captain Roy Hartman said.

Captain Roy Hartman is in charge of the Community Custody Program.

He and his staff at the jail monitor the 202 people walking Albuquerque streets with ankle monitors on.

“CCP is more than home detention,” Hartman said.

The program is strict counseling, work requirements, community service and appointments with their trackers.

“We do three face to face visits with every offender every week,” Hartman said.

That is a lot of places an offender has to be and Hartman has made sure they are never out of sight.

“I fully implemented 100 percent GPS in January,” Hartman said. “I can pinpoint your location within two minutes of your last location.”

Trackers can even put in hot spots or places offenders are not supposed to go.

“Victim’s homes, victim's works, casinos, bars,” Hartman said. “If you enter one of these areas we get an alert and we get it either via computer or via page on our cell phones.”

Big events involving alcohol, like the fair or upcoming balloon fiesta, are also off limits.

CCP trackers can find someone in about 90 seconds and can actually talk to the offenders. They will hear a loud beeping noise and can press a button the tracker will actually tell them to go home, get out of where they are or to report to their supervisor immediately

Not only are the alerts and hot spots supposed to detour crimes but the trackers can even help solve crimes.

“If there is something that goes down in the neighborhood and we get called by an outside agency we’ll pull up the map, we will let them come in we will search that individual to see where they were,” Hartman said.

The county says CCP is a necessity because the jail is overcrowded and because CCP is cheaper than housing inmates.

Only inmates awaiting trial for nonviolent crimes and inmates convicted of nonviolent crimes are eligible, but some violent offenders slip through the cracks.

Judges make the final decision on which inmates can get out on house arrest.