From: Jennifer Hanson, thenorthbaybay.ca staff
NORTH BAY — The City of North Bay has launched a line of digital tracking devices that vibrate whenever they are close to someone breaching probation.
“Breachbit,” a small watch-like device, was designed “in house” by City Council before being approved for a $2.5 million construction contract.
The first five hundred Breachbits have already been distributed throughout the community. Early user reviews are mixed.
“On one hand it’s great to know when someone nearby is breaching their probation,” says Breachbit tester Leah Wilcox. “But near the other hand is this Breachbit which will just not stop vibrating.”
“There can’t possibly be that many people breaching their probation in North Bay – can there?”
Bad Vibrations
Breachbit developer Aya Tamura says that the vibrating tracker is “a perfect digital device.”
“There is nothing wrong with the Breachbit,” explains Tamura. “We set the vibration setting to ‘strong’ as a default, anticipating that the device would only vibrate every once and a while.”
“That may have been a poor choice in hindsight.”
Elsewhere, The North Bay Regional Health Centre is reporting a “dramatic increase” in ER visits for broken wrists while City Council has approved a two-year study into potential Breachbit issues.