Electronic Monitoring System
Whenever there is a major news event, people often see “electronic ankle bracelet” mentioned in the news. What is an electronic ankle bracelet? Under what circumstances will it be used? Today, let us find out. The correct name for the so-called electronic ankle bracelet should be the electronic monitoring system, which achieves the purpose of surveillance through the use of technology equipment. Based on our law, the current use of electronic ankle bracelets is for sexual offenders who are under probation/parole supervision. That is, for prisoners who committed sexual assault, during the period of parole or after the final judgement of probation has been rendered, they will be under the protective measures, and the prosecutor will evaluate whether to issue the order to use electronic monitoring based on recommendations from professionals such as probation officers, district authorities and psychologists. With this kind of electronic device, the behavior of sexual offenders under protective measures will be constrained, so that they can return to the community smoothly and adapt to social life.

Electronic monitoring is a measure of using technology equipment for monitoring. The monitored people would wear specific devices, and the engineers will need to go to their homes to install and adjust the device at the home of the monitored person. With the help of the technology of the professional team, the equipment can achieve better monitoring results.

When the device is installed, monitoring begins. The electronic monitoring is carried out by the probation officers who are under the supervision of prosecutor of the district prosecutors office and with the help of the polices, bailiffs and the engineers. Appropriate judgments and actions can be made and taken at any time through monitoring signals.

When the monitored person is told by the prosecutor that he might not leave his home but leaves home anyway, the monitoring device will issue a warning and will send messages to the mobile phone of the probation officer or bailiff. The current electronic monitoring system can not only monitor whether the monitored person leaves home, but can also previeil the whereabouts of the monitored person through GPS technology. Therefore, when the monitored person enters an outdoor area that is not allowed, the monitoring system will also issue a warning to warn the monitored person to leave immediately, while sending such messages to inform the probation officer or bailiff at the same time. The areas where prosecutor demands the monitored person not to enter are usually high-risk areas where the person may easily commit crimes in accordance with the previous crimes or habits of the monitored person. To prevent the monitored person from committing crimes again, such areas are specifically restricted to warn the monitored person, and it also helps the monitoring personnel to find out problems early and initiate other prevention measures.

When the alarm message is transmitted to the mobile phone of the probation officer or the bailiff, they will check the monitoring signal. The engineer on duty will also conduct verification and preliminary judgment in accordance with the equipment, and then provide the results of preliminary judgment to the probation officer. As such, the probation officer may decide whether to contact 110 police network according to the information in hand at that time. According to the information collected at the time, if the initial judgment of the probation officer is that the monitored person violates the regulations, he/she will immediately contact the 110 police network to pay a visit in order to understand the current status of the monitored person, and report the situation to the prosecutor at any time according to the condition of the monitored person's violation for subsequent handling. If the initial judgment is that it is a problem with the equipment, the engineer will be asked to perform immediate troubleshooting and repair, so that the monitoring can be resumed as soon as possible.

In Taiwan, the supervision diamond model is adopted to prevent sexual assault crimes, that is, district procurators offices, police administrations, psychological health units, and the communities form a prevention team together. Therefore, when a sexual offender is released on parole/probation supervisions, the community prevention network will be initiated. Electronic monitoring system is one of the tools that helps the members of the prevention network to know where the monitored person is, but in such a prevention network, there are still other measures to assist the monitored people to return to society, such as the interviews of the probation officer, or the visits to the homes and workplaces of the monitored persons. The police units will also visit from time to time, and of course the psychological treatment units will carry out physical and mental counseling measures. Therefore, when the monitored person has a violation or has an unstable behavior, members of prevention network systems will adjust measures to strengthen the external control on the monitored person, thereby helping the monitored person to become stable as soon as possible. If the risk can still not be reduced, the parole or probation will be revoked according to law.