Memorandum 120
Supplementary evidence from the Ministry
of Justice
ENQUIRY ON
SPACE POLICY
The Committee has requested a brief memorandum
on satellite tracking of offenders, following evidence presented
to the Committee by David Williams, Director General of the British
National Space Centre. He referred to the interest shown by the
Home Office in the use of satellites for prisoner "tagging",
which we understand to be a reference to tracking or location
monitoring.
The National Offender Management Service (NOMS)
undertook three satellite tracking pilot programmes in Greater
Manchester, West Midlands and Hampshire between September 2004
and June 2006. Over 500 offenders, either as a condition of their
licence on release from prison or as part of a community order,
were satellite tracked during the programmes. Tracking was used
as an additional layer of supervision to what could be, in the
case of a very high risk offender, a comprehensive multi-layered
programme.
One of the objectives of the pilots was to gain
practical experience of tracking technology. GPS (Global Positioning
by Satellite), a US defence satellite network, has been used to
monitor the location of offenders in the community since the mid
1990s. It was recognised during the pilot programmes that satellite
tracking cannot guarantee complete coverage of an offender's movements,
but technology continues to advance. The Home Office Scientific
Development Branch works closely with NOMS and other government
departments, including BNSC, to ensure it can bring the most effective
technologies to bear on delivery objectives. The department has
a wide range of security needs, some of which can be aided through
space based technology. On tracking, Galileo may offer more resilient
signals than other systems which might enhance location operation
in buildings, potentially increasing the range of options for
offender monitoring.
The pilot programmes were subject to a full
evaluation, the final report on which is due to be published shortly.
The future of satellite tracking to monitor offenders is currently
being reviewed by a Working Group established across NOMS and
the Home Office and will be considered under the auspices of the
Ministry of Justice.
May 2007
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