By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ONLY two people have successfully tampered with their electronic monitoring device under the government’s Migrafill-managed system, a sharp drop that National Security Minister Wayne Munroe says shows major progress in tightening bail supervision.

He said the improvement follows last year’s controversial decision to cancel the government’s contract with the previous provider and reinstate Migrafill Electronic Security, which previously managed the programme.

His comments come as the country’s sharp decline in murders involving people on bail has continued this year, alongside a broader drop in the national murder rate.

“It's not that you can't remove a device,” Mr Munroe said, “but you now have a robust device where by the time you get it off, they've already alerted the police that this person is tampering with their monitor. If you can recall, that was why the initial termination happened because the persons were removing their devices very easily, going out, and coming back.”

The government cancelled its previous electronic monitoring contract in March 2024. At the time, officials said Migrafill would begin monitoring more than 600 people.

By the end of 2024, murders involving people on bail — a problem that helped spur the overhaul of the monitoring system — had fallen to 11 percent of total killings, down sharply from November 2023, when 42 percent of murder victims were on bail up to that point in the year.

Mr Munroe said Migrafill’s equipment is more advanced, providing immediate alerts and allowing real-time communication with offenders.

He also said the system can issue curfew reminders ten to 15 minutes in advance and allows people to report issues such as car trouble, prompting a police response.

“Migrafill did offer a more robust device, and while I think there have been two people who removed them, when we examined that, Migrafill had alerted the police for quite some time before the person was successful,” he said.