Gilroy
– In the space of five weeks, a satellite surveillance system at
the Morgan Hill boys ranch went from miracle cure to good first
step to non-starter.
Gilroy – In the space of five weeks, a satellite surveillance system at the Morgan Hill boys ranch went from miracle cure to good first step to non-starter.
Two weeks after Santa Clara County supervisors unanimously agreed to spend $410,000 to install GPS technology at the ranch, and five days after tests showed the system wouldn’t work, the supervisors called for a do-over. Later this month, the board will decide whether to spend $800,000 on a fence surrounding ranch buildings.
County probation officials had been touting the GPS system, which uses ankle bracelets that send out an alarm whenever an electronic fence is breached, as the best way to end the runaway problem at the William F. James Boys Ranch.
But when the system was actually tested last week, it took as long as eight or nine minutes for the alarm to sound.
“We’re not going to buy anything that isn’t going to work for us,” Supervisor Don Gage said Tuesday. “That alarm should go off immediately.”
Chief Probation Officer Sheila Mitchell said Tuesday that Satellite Tracking of People, a Houston company, promised a notification time of 20 to 30 seconds. Mitchell said company representatives were surprised at the delay and promised to try to resolve the problem, perhaps with additional software. The company could not be reached for comment.
“The response time is unacceptable if a kid were to leave,” Mitchell said. “Even a three-minute response is not acceptable.”
The $410,000 price tag included monitoring equipment and two anklets for every ward at the ranch, which can house as many as 96 youths. Fortunately for the county, it had not yet finalized the deal.
Gage said that that GPS bracelets are still a possibility, but noted that the money set aside for the system will cover half of the expense of a fence that would be erected around ranch buildings and a recreation area.
If approved, the fence will be bidded under a truncated “emergency” procedure and could be in place by the end of the summer.
The reversal on a GPS system is the latest turn in a saga that has gripped the neighborhoods surrounding the ranch since late last year when a flurry of escapes alarmed residents. A gang fight at the ranch in January outraged community members, many of whom called for the ranch to be moved. The GPS system was proposed after a series of acrimonious community meetings and was expected to be in place as early as next week.
Resident Greg Claytor said he wasn’t surprised by Tuesday’s announcement.
“I have mixed emotions,” Claytor said. “On the one hand I appreciate that the county was willing to spend $410,000 to fix the problem, but I never thought it would fly.”
Claytor wants to the county to build a fence around the entire property. That idea has been criticized by neighbors who fear it would lower property values and county officials who say it would cost too much.
“Why not phase it in over two or three years?” Claytor said. “There’s plenty of room to put up a good size fence that would afford recreation and exercise space for the boys and be set back far enough that none of the neighbors would ever see it. It absolutely has to be fenced. And I wish they’d get cracking.”
