Nottinghamshire: Police to start using GPS tags

The force took part in the free three-month trial, which came to an end in January. And following positive feedback from officers, 20 tags have been ordered at a cost of £45,200.

GPS tagging means officers can overlay offender movements with crime patterns, which can support real-time location and arrests and reduce the need for unnecessary and costly arrests if the location intelligence doesn’t put an offender in the place of a crime which they may be suspected of.

The trial also showed that the tags are a positive deterrent, helping to steer an offender away from crime and towards rehabilitation schemes.

The tags are being provided by G4S and the process of being fitted with one is currently voluntary.

Sheila Wright, deputy Chief Executive of Notts Probation Trust said: “Together with our partners we welcome GPS tagging as another effective tool in the fight against crime. We fully support the use of new technology and innovation such as this to help manage offenders, reduce re-offending rates and make Nottinghamshire a safer place.”