County supervisors balk at delay, will look at using money for
fence
n By Matt King Staff Writer
In the space of five weeks, a satellite surveillance system at the William F. James 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 anklets that send out an alarm whenever an electronic fence is breached, as the best way to end the runaway problem at county Probation Department facility.
But when the system was actually tested, 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. “That alarm should go off immediately.”
Chief Probation Officer Sheila Mitchell said 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 bid 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. A flurry of escapes alarmed residents of Coyote Estates and Mission Ranch at the east end of Cochrane Road and of St. Marks Court and Drive.
Since January, a total of 17 boys in seven separate incidents have fled from the ranch, sometimes running through residents’ back yards. Four escaped after a gang fight that month at the ranch. Six boys remain at large.
There has been an increased public focus on operations of the facility since the January escapes.
Resident Greg Claytor said he wasn’t surprised by last week’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.”
Gilroy Dispatch reporter Matt King can be reached at mk***@************ch.com or 847-7240.
