New policies in the way the Department of Juvenile Services handles young people accused of committing violent crimes will likely lead to an influx in juveniles on ankle monitors, local attorneys say.

Time and time again, juveniles are committing more crimes while wearing an ankle monitor.

The most recent example is the 17-year-old student at Howard High School who was arrested in connection to a murder. At the time of his arrest, he was wearing an ankle monitor and had a gun in his backpack.

Another example, is Tristan Jackson, one of the teens charged in the Brooklyn Day mass shooting, who was wearing an ankle monitor at the time.

Earlier this month, the Department of Juvenile Services announced new policies. Now a juvenile who is accused of committing a violent felony will be placed on an ankle monitor before their initial court appearance. If the juvenile is already under GPS monitoring and commits a violent felony, they will be detained.

“This is obviously because we’ve seen a high number of juveniles re-offend once they are immediately released into the community without any consequence whatsoever,” said Jeremy Eldridge, criminal defense attorney and partner at Eldridge Crandell.

Eldridge says the policy changes will lead to more young people on ankle monitors.

“I don’t think any attorneys, judges, or law enforcement, including prosecutors, have any faith in the Department of Juvenile Services being able to monitor an influx of juvenile offenders being on GPS monitoring, given the fact they can’t handle the numbers they have now.”

Kurt Nachtman, an attorney and partner at Silverman Thompson, also questions how DJS will keep up with an influx of kids on ankle monitors.

“We already know they are stretched pretty thin, so it begs the question as to how they will accomplish this goal,” said Nachtman.

According to DJS, 132 juveniles are currently on GPS monitoring and only 12 staff members are responsible for tracking them.

“Can DJS get in front of this? Can they hire more staff? Can they bring in better technology so that they can handle the influx of kids?” asked Eldridge.

Eldridge and Nachtman argue DJS needs to upgrade its technology so that ankle monitors automatically alert police, the courts, and DJS when a kid is in violation of their GPS monitoring. Instead of the current system which uses an agent who has to notice the violation and then alert the courts or law enforcement.

“Once it’s known that if you are one shred out of compliance, you will be taken into custody, people will start being more compliant with these devices,” said Nachtman.

FOX45 News sent DJS several questions regarding this issue:

Is the state prepared to handle the influx of youth on ankle monitors?

What steps is the department taking to prepare for the new policy and have you ordered more ankle monitors?

How do you ensure you are going to track the kids on ankle monitors?

Does DJS have any plans to update the technology being used to alert police, the courts, and DJS when there’s a violation of GPS monitoring?

As for Friday when this article was published. FOX45 did not receive a response back from DJS.