A damning oversight hearing held by Trinidad and Tobago’s Joint Select Committee on National Security has pulled back the curtain on critical flaws in the country’s $10.13 million taxpayer-funded electronic monitoring program, where 300 ankle bracelets were deployed with non-cut-resistant straps that allowed multiple convicted offenders to remove their devices and flee. The issue was thrust into the national spotlight following the high-profile 2023 escape of convicted human trafficker Anthony Michael Smith, who absconded mid-trial before being recaptured months later, prompting a full overhaul of the insecure legacy system.
During the committee’s public proceedings, Energy Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal raised the high-stakes case of Smith, a man who made history as the first person convicted under Trinidad and Tobago’s landmark Trafficking in Persons Act. Smith’s legal saga stretched back to a 2015 police raid in Arouca that led to his initial charges. When his trial finally opened in September 2023, he walked away from court after just two days of testimony, having cut through his non-resistant monitoring strap. He was convicted in absentia on five counts of child trafficking on November 2, 2023, and sentenced to 15 concurrent years in prison, and remained at large until a police operation captured him in February 2024.
Lawrence Hinds, manager of the country’s Electronic Monitoring Unit, told committee members that an internal review launched after Smith’s escape confirmed the original devices were wholly unsuitable for monitoring high-risk offenders. When pressed about why the flawed equipment was put into use, Hinds initially noted his team had been “pushed” to deploy the devices, before clarifying that the final decision to place offenders on electronic monitoring rests exclusively with the judiciary, even when technical staff formally advise against the practice for high-risk individuals.
“All we can do is submit our recommendation to the court. We are bound by their final decision,” Hinds explained. “If the court rules for monitoring regardless of our concerns, we cannot refuse to implement it.”
The original monitoring system was first procured in 2021 via an international tender awarded to Allied Universal Systems Ltd in partnership with former collaborator Attenti Systems, with 300 devices acquired at the $10.13 million total price tag. The unit was first established in 2017, but legislative gaps delayed full operationalization for four years. The initial inventory included devices designed for a range of supervision scenarios: domestic violence cases, juvenile monitoring, and home curfew enforcement, all fitted with multiple tracking sensors—but none featured cut-resistant ankle straps. As the profile of offenders placed into the program shifted toward higher-risk individuals in recent years, the equipment’s vulnerabilities became unavoidable.
Hinds confirmed that Smith had worn his monitoring device without incident for years while his case wound through the court system. His escape unfolded on the Republic Day public holiday, when he left his approved residence and traveled toward the Priority Bus Route, where he tampered with the strap. The device triggered an immediate alarm, and monitoring unit staff followed all standard operating protocols but were unable to locate Smith before referring the case to national police.
In addition to Smith, Hinds confirmed four other monitored offenders have successfully cut their devices and absconded to date, underscoring the scope of the system’s failures.
Following the escape and subsequent risk assessment, the government has moved forward with a multi-phase system upgrade that will replace all legacy equipment with new devices fitted with cut-resistant steel cuffs. The upgrade, which is already in its third phase, added 150 new secure devices in 2024 at additional cost to taxpayers. Once the transition is complete, the entire original flawed system will be permanently decommissioned and discarded, with all future monitoring conducted exclusively on the upgraded platform.
Hinds noted that the new steel cuffs, while far more secure, come at a significantly higher per-unit cost. The monitoring unit’s new policy prioritizes placing all offenders, regardless of assessed risk, on the steel-cuff devices to eliminate the vulnerability posed by the older straps, with high-risk cases specifically assigned to the upgraded technology.
To date, the Electronic Monitoring Unit has received more than 501 monitoring requests from the judiciary, with 168 cases approved and activated. Ninety-six individuals have already completed their required monitoring periods and exited the program. Hinds added that the unit enforces basic eligibility criteria: all monitored people must live at a residence with consistent access to electricity, and cannot have pre-existing health conditions that would make wearing the ankle device unsafe or impractical.