GPS tagging delivers 41% fall in crime-on-probation

A programme run by Hertfordshire Probation Trust has almost halved the level of crime committed by individuals on probation. Participants in the programme are offered the chance to wear GPS trackers which, says the Trust, have proved popular.

The trackers have paid a key part in the impressive crime reduction figures delivered by the Horizons programme so far – a 41% fall in total offences by participants and a 68% fall in home burglaries. The performance of the GPS devices in Hertfordshire is being fed into a wider government pilot on GPS tracking in offender management.

"When you think of how tagging has usually been used, it's been to enforce a curfew – the equipment would only show if you were in your living room or if you'd gone out and broken your curfew. This is significantly different," says detective chief inspector Julie Wheatley, who leads on offender management for Hertfordshire police. "With this bracelet on their ankle, we can track 24/7 where these offenders are. You can do it live or you can do it retrospectively. It gives you an indication if they are behaving themselves or if they have started to go off the rails."

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