The ankle monitoring system for juveniles in New Orleans is under scrutiny after a series of crimes committed by unmonitored teens has led to calls for justice and system reform. Two years ago, WDSU Investigates first reported that teens on ankle monitors in New Orleans were not being monitored. It is a problem the Orleans Parish District Attorney said his office is aware of. "It is a big problem, Cassie. I think you're really on to something in terms of why repeat offenders are creating new problems for community members and causing more harm after they've already been arrested," said District Attorney Jason Williams. Two years later, the ankle monitoring system continues to lead to deadly consequences. WDSU Investigates learned that millions of federal dollars to help the juvenile justice system could be lost, and this money is needed to protect the community. Our investigation also found that the unsupervised system tasked with monitoring teens has led to irreversible repercussions. For Kristie Thibideaux, a French Quarter tour guide, the broken system cost her life. Thibodeaux was sitting in her car in the 700 block of St. Peter after working when she was shot. Two weeks later, a 15-year-old wearing a deactivated ankle monitor was arrested for her murder."Caring. She was loving. She put others before herself," said Thibodeaux's friend Brian Cain, Owner of Crawl New Orleans. The NOPD Superintendent says the teen accused in Thibodeaux's murder was not a stranger to the criminal system. "It's always kind of an after the effect deal in this particular case with the young teenager who is the alleged shooter. His warrant was connected to previous domestic violence cases he had had. And I think some other outstanding warrants he has been in and out of the juvenile justice system several times, even in the past year," said NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick. The current ankle monitoring for juveniles in New Orleans is handled out of the Office of Juvenile Justice, which is state-run. Adult courts use independent companies like the Assured Supervision Accountability Program. Representatives for ASAP say the juvenile court program is giving ankle monitoring a bad name."How they're running their supervision program is to blame for what happened to Miss Thibodeaux. The juvenile system is broken, and it is because the juvenile judges are not fighting for justice for our city," said Jill Dennis with ASAP Company. OJJ employees, current and former, reached out to WDSU saying they can no longer stay silent. They spoke with WDSU on condition of anonymity. "Citizens are getting killed based on an efficiency and dysfunction within the office of juvenile justice," one OJJ employee said. "Being an employee with the office of juvenile justice of course he can't talk to any media that's why we're doing this interview and this means that we're doing it in. However working with these use on a daily basis they need to be held accountable these are just totally noncompliant and that's with this case the most recent report in the news and unfortunately an innocent bystander is killed in the process," a second OJJ employee said. In the case for Thibideaux, we now know that the teen did not charge his ankle monitor so leadership in the New Orleans Department for OJJ is accused of turning the monitor off before the murder happened. "The decision for her to deactivate the monitor and nobody goes out and execute a warrant on that youth nobody searches for the youth it's just like you notify the court via email or in a court record and let the court know that the youth is noncompliant but no one follows up from that point. Once you notify the court no one is making a conscious effort to locate this youth no one's making a conscious effort to get the youth off the street," said one of the OJJ employees.The OJJ employees tell WDSU because of the leadership and the lack of staffing, teens who don't comply with the system are getting away with it. "It happens daily, and it's reported to the court several times a week. They're just totally noncompliant," one of the OJJ employees said. "In the past the office of juvenile justice was able to execute warrants I believe when the agency was. However based on the fact that the posts we have few post certified officers in the agency the agency is not even equipped with enough staff to execute a warrant," another OJJ employee said. This employee says it's something that needs to be investigated. "Some of the stuff hasn't even made it to the media. Some people are not aware of some of the things that have taken place which are very terrible things that I've taken place in the office of juvenile justice here," the OJJ employee said. WDSU Investigates took these findings to the New Orleans City Council. "I mean, that's definitely concerning and it should concern the public as well," said Councilwoman Helena Moreno. "What's really troubling is that we have had an ongoing conversation since my first term. It was the crime Commissioner for the City of New Orleans that said this has been an issue for quite some time. She had committed to take that program over because we need to have real time monitoring for juveniles."The real-time monitoring need has been in the works for years, with technology identified nearly three years ago. "So we've did a little presentation by the zoom with the BI company last week and it was impressive how technology has changed within the last five, six years on electronic monitoring," said Tenisha Stevens, the Mayor's Criminal Justice Commissioner, during a city council meeting back in 2021. However, that technology was never invested in. "It was everyone's understanding that the city, through the Commissioner's Office, would take this over and there were supposed to be RFP's and all of these different things done. But none of that has happened," Moreno said. "I know the judges were looking at the Commissioner wondering what happened." Moreno said the council gave $4,450,000 tot he Office of Criminal Justice Coordination through ARPA federal funds two years ago, but that money has not been spent. If that money isn't used in a year and a half it is lost. Moreno said she has been trying to find out where the disconnect between OJJ, the courts, and the council happened when it came to that funding. "I have inquiring about this and asking these questions for quite some time and I don't have any answers," Moreno said. WDSU reached out through the Mayor's office to talk with Commissioner Stevens on what they are doing in the department as a whole and plans for the future.We were told, "Commissioner Stevens' schedule is packed for the rest of the month, leading into August. We will not be able to accommodate." Former Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office employee Blake Arcuri also came forward with concerns about the state of the ankle monitoring program. "Without the city's involvement, the program was destined to fail," said a former sheriff's office employee. Arcuri said judges would ask deputies who knew ankle monitors were cut to contact them before taking those juveniles to jail, even if those calls were made in the middle of the night. This information has led to District Attorney Williams calling for the program to be shut down entirely. "All of it concerns me. There are so many problems in this system," said Williams. "It's not right that they are getting a second, sometimes third and fourth chance. They need to be put into custody immediately." WDSU Investigates pressed Williams about how long the problems with the system have been persisting. "It's only gotten worse," Williams said. "Until they commit to looking at these reports on a daily basis, and pick up people as soon as there's a trigger of any kind, then that ankle monitor has the same impacts on public safety as your necklace," Williams said to WDSU Investigative Reporter Cassie Schirm. This is why Williams thinks the program should shut down. "I think we should put a moratorium in the juvenile court until every single person, every single juvenile defendant that's on an electronic monitor has been assessed to find out if they are compliant or non compliant," Williams said. For Thibideaux's loved ones, they support this idea. "Ultimately she would want us to be outspoken, because juveniles are committing crimes and this is happening, " said Cain. "She would want us to make sure justice is served."Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, Moreno, Williams, and a state auditor say they are teaming up to investigate the ankle monitoring programs and see if a new system can be set up in New Orleans.