FATAL FLAWS OF DV TRACKERS EXPOSED
THE Queensland Police Service has finally revealed several potentially fatal flaws in the GPS tracking devices placed on domestic violence thugs.
After sustained pressure from the Gold Coast Bulletin, the QPS was forced to respond to questions about the ankle bracelets, last night revealing:
●Offenders are being monitored by a private operator in the United Kingdom.
●Details about the staffing arrangements and whether the monitoring was 24/7 could not be divulged due to “commercial in confidence”.
●London consultants would contact the alleged thug and tell them to recharge the batteries on their bracelets.
●Not all offenders are subjected to prohibited areas, some may only be as a condition of bail and can remain just 100m from a victim’s home.
●An individual will only come to the attention of the monitoring centre when an alert triggers – i.e., the battery is running low, or for a breach, for example, cutting off the tracker.
●Victim is not monitored if they move out of an alleged offender’s no-go zone.
●When network access is unavailable, the device cannot communicate the location of the tracked person.
●GPS operates in near real time.
On Tuesday, Police Minister Mark Ryan maintained the ankle bracelets were “monitored around the clock, every second of the day”.
Top criminal lawyer Bill Potts yesterday challenged him to prove the trackers “are in fact being monitored by real people in real time”.
Mr Ryan yesterday de- clined to answer the Bulletin’s 15 questions about the tracking system, deferring the newspaper to Queensland Police.
The Minister’s office said the “detailed and specific nature of your questions” meant Queensland Police media would provide the responses.
The Bulletin was referred to Mr Ryan’s speech before Question Time yesterday where he defended the GPS tracking system for offenders.
“A very angry Police Commissioner has told me that recent claims about GPS trackers on the Gold Coast are wrong, ridiculous and reckless,” Mr Ryan said.
Commissioner Ian Stewart had described the GPS tracking system on the Coast as world class and represented best practice, which was why it was used by many public safety agencies internationally.
“The commissioner has also confirmed yet again that the trackers are monitored in real time every second of every day,” Mr Ryan said.
“That is not an opinion. It is not a claim. It is a fact. If someone with a tracker attached to them ventures into a no-go zone or breaches a curfew or tampers with their tracker, an alert is immediately sent to police. The commissioner says if an alert of this type is raised police act swiftly, within minutes.”
Mr Ryan said the Commissioner had also confirmed that if a Coast-based magistrate orders a tracker for a person then that tracker could be delivered within hours.
“Let us be clear, because the Bail Act is clear. It is only after a court has granted bail that consideration of a tracker takes place. In other words, these people will be on bail regardless.
“What our government has done is introduce an extra layer of monitoring of people if the court determines they need it. The laws that support these procedures began in March this year.”
However, neither Mr Ryan nor Commissioner Stewart could not answer if victims were protected if they ventured outside of the no-go zones listed as part of alleged offender’s bail conditions; if attackers were being watched and not monitored reactively; and why accused thugs had to remain in custody for at least three extra days, at taxpayers’ expense, because the trackers had to be transported from Brisbane.
Opposition MPs heckled Mr Ryan during his speech and accused him of hiding behind the courts.
“Labor’s embattled Police Minister is clearly out of touch and needs a reality check on GPS trackers,” Mudgeeraba MP Ros Bates said.
“We want these GPS trackers to be located on the Gold Coast because vulnerable domestic violence victims and their kids need more protection from high-risk offenders.
“The Minister can blame the courts and blame the lawyers all he likes but the buck stops with him as Minister.
“Community safety should be his number one priority and he needs to start listening to the Gold Coast community.
“Annastacia Palaszczuk needs to show some leadership and stop treating Gold Coasters like Brisbane’s the poor cousins.”
Opposition leader Deb Frecklington last night put forward a motion of notice which called on the Government to scrap an “absurd policy” which enabled DV perpetrators to have 10 extra days of taxpayerfunded leave.
Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon described the move as a “cheap political stunt” and warned that authorities believed it was wrong to isolate and demonise offenders.
She said DV support groups maintained the two red flags for violence was “loss of income” and possibility of losing a family home.
After the motion was lost following a vote, Southport LNP MP Rob Molhoek told the Bulletin: “I’d rather see taxpayer funds spent in more crisis accommodation for victims.”