Electronic ankle bracelets are, in theory, an effective way to monitor former offenders.

As long as the people who are in charge of keeping an eye on the monitoring alerts are doing their job.

The challenge comes in sorting through all of the white noise.  There are countless times where alarms will go off for things like a dead battery or if the satellite connection becomes a bit too shaky.

It can even happen if someone gets home from work late.

The agencies who are supposed to be monitoring the alarms don't always follow up, and some of the people they are supposed to be checking up on are now accused of committing new offenses.

The stark reality is that these people aren't being watched 24-hours a day. In some instances, court districts have suspended the program altogether because people that were supposed to be monitored went on to commit violent crimes.

A recent report noted that earlier this year, nearly two dozen agencies received more than a quarter of a million alarms in one month alone.  Depending on the size of the probation and parole departments, this meant needing to check up on anywhere between 500 and 1,000 alarms in any given day.

It's hard to know what constitutes an emergency and what equates to background noise.

In many cases, serious predators are taking their devices off altogether- and the people who are supposed to be watching them are completely unaware it's happened.

It's taking place all over the US. In Florida, a man who was awaiting trial violated his curfew nearly five dozen times before authorities checked up on him.  In one of those instances, he shot at least three people.

In Colorado, a parolee removed his bracelet and killed two people.  This happened well before law enforcement officials issued a warrant for his arrest because they found out he tampered with his anklet.

Some states only monitor alerts during business hours, which causes an even bigger problem.   A number of agencies don't have any set protocols.

In Tennessee, an audit found that more than 80% of bracelet alerts had not been cleared.

Jailers say the program is never going to be 100% effective, but it should instead be seen as a tool.   It can be effective, they said, but it's a matter of knowing how and when to use it.   Even the manufacturers have acknowledged they're not entirely fool proof.

Some states have begun to take a proactive approach to how they deal with persons who are outfitted with these types of devices.   A handful of elected officials in Washington are reportedly pushing to make the tampering or removal of a monitoring bracelet a federal crime.

Others say that corrections departments need to make better decisions when it comes to who is, and who isn't a candidate for electronic tracking.