Sheriffs frustrated by problems with GPS units in vans

Department of Justice documents obtained by CBC News detail a year-long struggle in the government to implement a system that monitors whether sheriffs officers are obeying speed limits while driving prisoner transport vans.

Two separate attempts to launch the system across a 37-vehicle fleet failed, the documents obtained under Right to Information show.

• GPS units working in sheriffs' vans after year-long delay
• GPS units meant to slow speeding sheriffs turned off
• Sheriffs warned by RCMP about speeding, dangerous driving
• VIDEO: Stephen Horsman says GPS units for vans transporting prisoners pending

The records also censor any areas where the costs associated with attempts to get the system working are discussed.

The documents tell a story where everything that can go wrong did, leading to frustration among drivers, questions from detainees travelling in the vansand months of added work for people at all levels within Sheriff Services.

Two internal documents note that drivers tampered with the devices to stop alarms that could not be turned off.

The fleet-tracking units were ordered installed in December of 2013following an orderby then minister of justice Troy Lifford.

The initiative followed a CBC News investigation into an April 2012 accident involving a New Brunswick sheriff's van that injured five people including three detainees locked in the back.

The investigation revealedin September of that year an internal email by a head sheriff warned 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.

The GPS devices are designed to track the location of each vehicle in the fleet in real time, recording, among other things, who the driver is and the vehicle's speed. It can also send an alert if the van is stolen or involved in an accident.

But while satellite GPS fleet tracking has been widespread throughout the trucking industry and has been used for several years in New Brunswick ambulances, its rollout in vehicles operated by Sheriff Services was plagued with a stubborn series of problems.

GPS problems

Among the issues: the devices, would sound alarms a series of loud beeps inside the cab when the van was started that could not be stopped.

The devices would not sound alarms as intended when the vehicle was speeding. In some cases the devices issued "false readings" where the system appeared to be "estimating" the speed limit.

There were also cases where vehicles were "not communicating" at all with head office. In one instance a vehicle was shown to be in Miramichi when it was parked in Fredericton.

In another the GPS was unplugged on suspicion it was draining the vehicle's battery.

A memo dated Jan.12, 2015 notes sheriff officer complaints that "beeping is distracting them while driving and inmates are inquiring as to what the beeping is for."

While the devices are designed to sound an alarm inside the cab when the van is speeding, delays were a recurring problem at times confusing the drivers.

Awad Charbal, the director of Sheriff Services, cited cases in a Feb. 12 documentwhere a van was recorded speeding on entering a highway offramp "but the GPS unit beeps for them 20 seconds later when they are doing the speed limit."

The documents frequently reference discussions with GPS system provider KERR Global of Halifax.

Dwayne Primeau, the company's general manager, said issues with GPS units are not common.

"The system is quite stable," said Primeau.

But he declined further comment, citing clientprivacy.