‘Huge savings’ if police help track tagged criminals

The current system using providers G4S, the firm at the centre of the Olympics security shambles, and Serco is outdated, under-used and expensive, the Policy Exchange think-tank said.

Chris Miller, a former assistant chief constable who spoke for police chiefs on tagging, warned that “much of the potential of electronic monitoring to keep our communities safe has not been realised”.

“What we have been given instead is a sclerotic, centrally controlled, top-down system that has enriched two or three large suppliers, that lacks the innovation and flexibility of international comparators and that fails to demonstrate either that it is value for money or that it does anything to reduce offending.”

Core costs are 10 times more than what is paid in the United States and almost £70m a year would be freed up if the firms handed over the technology to police and probation officers to monitor and fit the tags, rather than doing it themselves, the report said.

This would pay for 2,000 probation officers or 1,200 additional police officers to work on offender management, with an average of 12 or 20 cases respectively, it added.

Police and probation officers should also be able to recommend to courts and prison governors who ought to be tagged, the Future of Corrections report said.

It would also be wise for police to trial tagging technology in relation to prolific and high-risk offenders, it said, adding that some 40,000 criminals, including sex offenders, could be eligible.

Since tagging was introduced in the UK in 1989, there has been little competitive pressure and a lack of innovation in technology, the report said.

In contrast, the tags have become smaller, smarter and more durable in the US.

But Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said new guidelines being introduced “call for a smarter, more integrated approach that takes advantage of the latest technology”.

“Properly administered, new generation tagging can promote improved behaviour and give victims reassurance,” he said.

The critical report comes after G4S was awarded a five-year £13m contract by the Scottish government last week to run hi-tech new tags with GPS technology, giving authorities the ability to continuously track offenders’ whereabouts.

The right-of-centre think-tank’s report called for an end to the current long-term centralised contracts and for the new Police and Crime Commissioners in each police force area to be given the power to decide how much money should be spent on tagging.

“Electronic monitoring in England and Wales has not kept pace with developments in new technology, and the contracts over the last 13 years have failed to provide a service that involves practitioners, resulting in an unimaginative and uncreative approach to electronic monitoring and at a high cost,” the report said.

“Police forces are often best placed to judge the level of harm an offender poses to the community through their offending.

“The police should therefore have an integral role in making recommendations to sentencers and prison governors on the most effective use of electronic monitoring to prevent and detect crime as part of sentences or licence conditions.”

Richard Morris, group managing director of G4S Care and Justice Services, said: “G4S has been providing electronic monitoring to the Ministry of Justice since its inception more than 10 years ago and we are proud of our excellent track record in delivering what is the largest and most complex offender monitoring programme in the world.”