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County moves to increase electronic monitoring contract as GPS use rises
Summary
Albany County authorized a contract with Allied Universal Monitoring for electronic monitoring products and services and approved increasing the 2026 contract from $200,000 to $250,000, citing rising use of GPS as an alternative to incarceration.
The Legislature authorized an agreement with Allied Universal Monitoring for electronic monitoring products and services and approved increasing the 2026 contract ceiling from $200,000 to $250,000.
County presenters said the jurisdiction uses GPS monitoring at a high rate as an alternative to incarceration. At one point this year the county had more than 200 monitored offenders and was averaging about 185 on GPS in the week of the meeting. Presenters said units are assigned and strapped to an ankle and generate reports; monitoring is passive (the transcript indicates continuous tracking data are collected but that live, around-the-clock human monitoring of every unit is not performed). A legislator asked whether the units are monitored in real time; the presenter clarified that the systems are passive and that compliance reports are generated and reviewed, with courts receiving notifications if there's an issue.
The presenter estimated compliance at roughly 80–85 percent, and said some defendants cut units off and courts sometimes issue warrants. The Legislature moved, seconded and approved the contract authorization and increase by voice vote; the transcript does not provide a roll-call tally.
The contract increase was presented as a budgetary adjustment to match an expanding caseload for GPS monitoring rather than as a policy change to monitoring practices.
