PCC Steve Turner has written to Policing Minister Kit Malthouse calling for Cleveland to be included in the rollout of the Government’s GPS tagging pilot.
See the PCC’s letter below:
25 May 2021
Dear Kit,
GPS Tagging Rollout
I write in relation to the national rollout of the GPS tagging scheme. I welcomed the news that GPS tagging for prolific offenders would be rolled-out across England and Wales, as stated in the Smarter Approach to Sentencing whitepaper.
I would like to enquire if the Home Office, in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice, has yet reached a decision in regard to which thirteen police forces have been selected as part of the wider rollout in September later this year. If a final decision is outstanding, I would like to strongly request that Cleveland is chosen as one of these force areas and set out my reasons for this.
Cleveland continues to experience some of the highest reoffending rates nationally with an overall rate of 38.4%. The local authority areas of Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees have the third, fourth and fourteenth highest reoffending rates in England and Wales. Like many other forces, acquisitive crime is one of the key drivers of our disproportionately high reoffending rates which continues to create new victims of crime in our communities and places additional demands on our already stretched public services.
Reoffending is a deep concern for me, and one that I am determined to address to make our communities feel a safer place to live, reduce crime, and to restore local confidence in the Cleveland Police. As we have discussed, previously, I am a big supporter of technology, believing it has a key role to play in supporting the police, and our criminal justice partners in the enforcement and management of prolific offenders.
On behalf of the communities of Cleveland, Cleveland Police and our wider criminal justice agencies, I would like to ensure that we are early adopters of measures that addresses offending and I am confident that we have strong working partnerships and buy-in already in place to maximise the use of this new technology.
I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you further.
Yours sincerely
Steve Turner
Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner
You can download a signed copy of the letter below:
Letter to Policing Minister – GPS Tagging (application, 81kB)