GPS offender monitoring trial under way

A statewide trial of GPS tracking devices is underway to determine the best way to monitor offenders living in the community.

Corrections Minister Andrew McIntosh said about 30 Corrections Victoria staff were currently taking part in the two-month trial, the results of which will help determine the GPS monitoring technology to be deployed in Victoria.

The trial involves monitoring Corrections Victoria staff volunteers from around Victoria as they carry out their daily duties, as well as tracking government cars to examine the potential to monitor vehicles.

“The Victorian Coalition Government has made a $5 million commitment to upgrade our existing electronic offender monitoring program to incorporate GPS capability, and this trial is the first step in fulfilling this commitment,” Mr McIntosh said.

“The static electronic monitoring system currently in use allows Corrections Victoria to check that offenders are complying with curfews, as ordered by the court. The upgrade to GPS technology will allow authorities to monitor an offender’s compliance with a broader range of restrictions such as exclusion zones, movement restrictions and conditions intended to protect the community.

“It’s critical that the technology we purchase is as reliable as it is versatile and this trial will ensure that we have a very clear picture of what we want to get out of the introduction of GPS,” Mr McIntosh said.

Attorney-General Robert Clark said the government would legislate to make electronic monitoring available to the courts in a wider range of circumstances, consistent with the Coalition’s election commitments.

“The government is working to provide our courts with a wide range of options at every stage in the justice process,” Mr Clark said.

“We committed to provide our courts with the option to electronically monitor offenders and suspects on bail under an expanded range of circumstances, and we are getting on with the job of ensuring that the technology is available for use under these new laws.”

Changes to existing laws will, for the first time, explicitly authorise courts to impose electronic monitoring as a condition of bail or as a component of a community-based sentence.

Changes will also be made to serious offender monitoring provisions, currently restricted to serious sex offenders, to allow for post-sentence monitoring of convicted bushfire arsonists.

Mr Clark said the Government expected to commence the introduction of this legislation into Parliament later this year.