We’ve reached the second round in the fight for information about GPS ankle monitors. The attorney general and the district court are not seeing eye to eye on the law. Now, the attorney general is filing a new lawsuit.

The 2nd Judicial District Court in Albuquerque oversees pretrial services – the ones responsible for GPS ankle monitors for people out of jail awaiting trial.

Then, there’s New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who enforces the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act. He says that 4 Investigates public records request was unlawfully denied – along with another news outlet – and he wants a judge to step in.

The 4 Investigates request was trying to figure out how and when other agencies are notified when someone breaks the rules when they’re out on an ankle monitor. The issue is how the court defines information “related to GPS data.”

4 Investigates was not requesting location data on suspects – which a relatively new law says is only accessible to law enforcement – but we’re asking how one government agency is communicating with another.

“Just two days ago, we witnessed a pretrial detention motion that was filed against an individual who pulled out a gun at the Albuquerque Convention Center and shot a woman in the neck in broad daylight and thankfully she survived,” Torrez said. “Despite apprehending this dangerous individual at the scene of the crime – guess what happened to him? He was placed on GPS. Now, we are told that – that’s an effective way of protecting the public and making sure that everyone is safe. How are we going to know that if we don’t have access to violation reports related to that defendant?”

What 4 Investigates asked for was the total number of GPS violations – no names, just how many people are violating their ankle monitoring rules? The attorney general thinks we should be able to see individual violations, like the suspected shooter at that graduation ceremony.

Torrez has filed a similar lawsuit before. He had won that lawsuit, and then legislators passed the law we’re talking about now. But that was an omnibus crime bill – a last-minute hodgepodge of other bills that party leaders put together behind closed doors. They thought they nailed down this GPS monitoring issue then.

KOB 4 talked to a key lawmaker involved in crafting that law about what could happen next.

“I think we need to quit finger-pointing at one another and trying to hide behind rocks when it comes to crime in Albuquerque,” state Sen. Joseph Cervantes said. “The problem is too serious, the consequences are too grave. We should be pulling together instead of trying to find loopholes to avoid public accountability.”

Cervantes said they are communicating with the governor about whether or not this issue needs to be worked out at the Roundhouse in July during the special session on public safety.

The court had no comment today. In a previous letter, they pointed to the state Supreme Court as to why they say they can’t release the records.

MORE:

• 2nd Judicial District Court unlikely to release ankle monitor data
• New Mexico attorney general calls for the release of GPS ankle monitor data