The Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole is reviewing its policies on monitoring probation offenders after allowing accused cop-killer Rafael Jones to go without a required electronic ankle bracelet for up to two weeks after he was released from jail and placed on house arrest, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Jones is accused of killing Police Officer Moses Walker Jr. on Aug. 18, 10 days after Jones walked free from a Philadelphia prison on an order from Judge Susan Schulman.
Board chairman Michael Potteiger said Jones was allowed to go without the monitor because there was no telephone line in the home he had been approved to live in. A landline is needed for electronic monitoring to function. Prisoners released to house arrest are not always monitored electronically from the moment they get out of jail. Police say Jones and alleged accomplice Chancier McFarland killed Walker in a predawn robbery attempt. “Those two weeks took somebody’s life,” Philadelphia FOP lodge president John McNesby said, referring to the lag in monitoring. “That’s like giving someone a pass, sending them out on the street and telling them to behave. [ ] doesn’t cut it. Someone needs to be held accountable for this.” (A Facebook page called “I Support Chancier McFarland & Rafael Jones” sparked outrage among law-enforcement authorities before it was taken down Sunday, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.)