MOUNT VERNON – A steady increase in the number of lawbreakers doing time at home rather than behind bars has opened up an unusual opportunity for a new business in Mount Vernon.
Using the latest high-tech monitoring equipment, D&P Monitoring Inc. keeps track of people whose sentences include several weeks on home detention.
The company, owned by former Skagit County Jail Superintendent Dan Slattery, opened in January.
As courts around the country attempt to cope with increasingly crowded jails, the demand for electronic monitoring is on the rise, Slattery said.
Skagit County Jail’s Sgt. Jeff Walde said about 35 county residents are serving home detention sentences at any given time. That’s an increase from an average of about 20 several years ago, he said.
Slattery, who also spent 23 years running the Okanogan County Jail, recognized the trend and figured he could turn it into a lucrative business opportunity.
“Legislators passed the new DUI laws that require so many days in jail and so many days of home detention,” Slattery said. “And then there were new laws requiring (electronic home monitoring), so I thought, ‘Why not?’”
Sentencing an offender to home detention reduces the number of jail inmates, and because offenders pay for home monitoring out of their own pockets, it saves taxpayers money, Slattery said. He charges offenders between $12.50 and $16 a day for monitoring services.
Home detention is designed to allow people to serve out sentences at home so they don’t risk losing their jobs. While a home detention sentence can be given for a variety of offenses, Slattery said the majority of people serving time at home are people who were caught driving drunk.
To track his clients’ activities, Slattery uses high-tech equipment that transmits information to his computer via standard telephone lines.
After an offender signs up for his services, Slattery installs an electronic monitoring device in the client’s home that receives data transmitted by a small wireless device strapped to the client’s leg. Additional equipment can also be used to monitor alcohol consumption.
Offenders can leave their homes for approved activities such as work and school, but their schedules are very limited and closely monitored.
When the data from the ankle transmitter indicates a client has strayed from the approved schedule, Slattery follows up. So far, Slattery said he’s had few problems with clients who don’t follow the rules.
“A lot of these people are family people. They just got caught,” he said. “They’re just trying to follow through and do what they’re supposed to do, so they can get their license back.”
D&P Monitoring competes for local business not only with the county jail, which runs its own electronic monitoring program, but also with at least one regional private company and a service run by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.
Associated Press
Dan Slattery of D&P Monitoring Inc. in Mount Vernon displays some high-tech monitoring equipment.
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