An Invercargill man may be given a harsher sentence because electronic monitoring equipment does not work on fibre connections.

 

As fibre is rolled out across the country to replace copper lines and new properties are being developed it's causing a problem for the Department of Corrections and judges when it comes to sentencing.

 

Kane Stephen Evans appeared in the Invercargill District Court before Judge Mark Callaghan on Thursday but had his sentence adjourned because the property at which he planned to serve a community detention sentence was deemed unsuitable.

 

Evans' lawyer, Jono Ross, told the court Evans had been working in Cromwell, and planned to serve his community detention sentence at his mother's home in a Cromwell subdivision.

 

But because the property was new, it had a fibre connection instead of the old copper wiring, which meant a standard landline connection was not available at the proposed address.

 

That meant that Evans would not be able to be electronically monitored while serving his sentence, Ross said.

 

He was to be sentenced for driving while disqualified, burglary, receiving, possessing cannabis and shoplifting.

 

Ross called for the judge to either sentence Evans to community detention without electronic monitoring, or put off sentencing so that Evans could put forward a different address in Cromwell or Invercargill.

 

Judge Callaghan decided to adjourn the hearing to November 24 to allow Evans to find another address, but indicated that if the address was in Invercargill, he would be more likely to sentence Evans to home detention.

 

But Department of Corrections staff said it was only if a property did not have cell phone coverage that a landline would be required.

 

Electronic monitoring assurance team leader Tracey Tapa said fibre, or digital lines, were not suitable because the technology was different to that used for electronic monitoring.

 

Properties suitable for community detention required uninterrupted Vodafone 3G coverage, or, if cellular coverage was unavailable, a landline could be used in some cases, she said.

 

It was believed Evans' case was the first where the fibre network was the only available option, Tapa said.

 

"Of the around 1700 offenders on community detention at any one time, only 40 use a landline for this connection due to lack of cellphone coverage."

 

The department was constantly working on improving the technology used to monitor offenders, she said.

 

"This particular issue will be investigated for a potential solution."

 

Chorus stakeholder communications manager Nathan Beaumont said some property developers in rural areas would request a copper connection because fibre was not necessarily readily available in that area yet.

 

When existing properties were upgraded from the old copper wiring to a fibre connection, it depended on the method of installation as to whether the copper connection was left in tact, he said.

 

In some cases, fibre cables were installed through the same pipes as the copper lines, and so copper lines were removed.

 

But if another installation method was used, like going overhead instead of underground, then the copper lines would be left untouched, Beaumont said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/84847217/fibre-causes-sentencing-hiccup

Is this the same issue as older alarm systems that can't cope with fibre connections?

Can anyone here who's doing a stretch on home detention tell us what equipment Corrections use?