GPS units working in sheriffs' vans after year-long delay

The provincial government says GPS units are now working in sheriffs vans across New Brunswick, more than a year after they were installed.

The GPS initiative followed a CBC News investigation into the crash of a sheriffs van that injured five people.

That investigation revealed, among other things, a September2012 internal email by a head sheriff warning officers to slow down.

The official said RCMP had clocked some sheriff vans at "inexcusable speeds" of 134 km/h, 147 km/h and 152 km/h.

Former justice ministerTroyLiffordsaid in December of 2013 he had ordered GPS tracking "not only the protection of our fleet, but also the protection of our sheriffs, the detainees that we transport all over the province, and the general public."

This week Anne Bull, a spokesperson for the justice department, said the devices were switched on June 1 and have been operating well, with no issues.

While the use of GPS fleet tracking has been widespread in the trucking industry and has been used also by Ambulance New Brunswick for eight years, the sheriffs program was plagued from the start.

Documents received by CBC News through the Right to Information Act show the devices were first switched on July 21, 2014, and deactivated two days later on July 23.

In a letter earlier this year, Justice Minister Stephen Horsman, said the department is trying to resolve "technical issues" with GPS tracking software.

Snowplows also had GPS problems

Andy Hardy, the president of CUPE local 1190, the union representing provincial government mechanics and snowplow drivers, said the GPS units began sounding loudly as soon as they were turned on. "Nobody knew why it was beeping so they had to shut them off," said Hardy.

Hardy said the devices have had mixed success after their installation in government snowplows in 2012 and 2013.

"In some cases, I don't know how reliable it is," said Hardy.

"It has reported things like there's a truck idling, sitting in front of a credit union for three hours when there was no truck anywhere near there."

In another case, said Hardy, the GPS system showed a plow was parked for three months during a period when it was on the road nearly every day.

In her statement, Bull said GPS problems encountered earlier were resolved "by a combination of updates and new rules set by the service provider, along with the introduction of Garmin GPS units to supplement the existing GPS transponder system."