Mayor announces additional £2.2m fund to extend GPS tagging of knife crime offenders to keep Londoners safe

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today announced an additional £2.2m investment to extend his pioneering GPS knife crime tagging programme, which is working to keep Londoners safe by tagging knife crime offenders released from prison.

The GPS knife crime programme is part of Sadiq’s total £6.7m investment since 2019 in this state-of-the-art technology, which puts the focus of behaviour change on offenders, not their victims.

Individuals are tagged with a tracking device under strict license conditions and includes those have served custodial sentences for knife crime offences, such as being in possession of a knife, robbery, aggravated burglary and GBH.1

Since 2019, more than 2,100 domestic abuse and knife crime offenders have been tagged in London – more than half of those have complied with their licencing condition and the GPS tagging has worked to recall more than 670 who breached their conditions, such as entering a monitored exclusion zone near a victim.

New data released today from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) 2 shows that the GPS knife crime tagging programme – which has tagged over 1,500 individuals – is working to reduce reoffending rates among tagged offenders:

• Over two years the level of reoffending by those tagged was five percentage points lower than when compared to a matched group of offenders who were not tagged.
• 64 per cent of GPS knife crime tag wearers also successfully completed their period of monitoring without being recalled to prison.
  
  

The additional £2.2m announced by the Mayor today will also support the creation of a new GPS pilot in June 2024 which will specifically target stalkers who do not fall within the definition of domestic abuse. This will be in partnership with London Probation Service to provide tags not just for those being released from prison, but also on community sentences – and work to challenge behaviour and protect victims from stalkers.

This builds on the success of Sadiq’s GPS domestic abuse pilot – the first of its kind in the UK – which has tagged 600 high-risk individuals released from prison. An analysis of this pilot last year (May 2023) showed that GPS tracking data is demonstrating clear benefits in terms of improved risk management, victim protection and quicker and more effective enforcement of licence conditions when these are broken. To date, GPS tagging has been the significant factor in 204 domestic abuse perpetrators being recalled back to prison for breaking licence conditions.3

Following the success of the Mayor’s GPS programme tagging domestic abuse offenders, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime is working with the Ministry of Justice and sharing information from the pilot to support the transition to a national tagging electronic programme.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Using state-of-the-art technology, my GPS tagging programme has successfully tagged over 2,100 high-risk domestic abuse and knife crime offenders since 2019 and is working to safeguard those most at risk. Crucially this is putting the emphasis on perpetrators of violence to change their behaviour, not victims and survivors.

“This programme is helping to prevent reoffending and protect victims which is why I’m pleased to be investing an additional £2.2m to extend the scheme and launching a new GPS stalking pilot later this year to ensure we can continue working closely with the probation service and the police to better manage offenders.

“I'm determined to do all I can to support victims of crime and will continue to be tough on crime and its complex causes as we work to build a safer London for all.”

Kilvinder Vigurs, London Regional Director for the Probation Service, said: “This innovative technology is helping us to keep a closer eye on offenders, protect victims and divert prison leavers away from a life of crime.

“It’s another tool in our armoury to help probation officers get offenders back on the straight and narrow and keep London’s streets safe.”

Claire Waxman OBE, London’s Independent Victims’ Commissioner, said: “The Mayor's GPS tagging programme is working to improve the management of offenders who have been released from prison and is rightly placing the onus on them to change their behaviour, not victims.

“Data shows that GPS tagging and the monitoring of offenders is dissuading individuals from reoffending as well as challenging the behaviour of perpetrators. I’m pleased that this programme is being supported with additional funding from the Mayor and that plans are in place for a new GPS stalking pilot to be introduced later this year. This vital partnership work between City Hall, the police and probation service will help to better protect and support victims across London and keep the public safe.”

Sara Murray OBE, Chief Executive of Buddi who provide GPS technology for the Mayor’s tagging programmes, said: “I am proud that Buddi’s cutting-edge technology sits at the heart of the Mayor’s successful GPS tagging programme.

“Contributing to long-term change in rehabilitating offenders convicted of knife crime offences is extremely rewarding and we look forward to continuing to work with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and its partners to keep our communities safe.”

Case Studies:

Case study 1: GPS Knife Crime programme – successful completion of tagging:

Mr X was convicted in October 2018 of a knife point robbery offence and sentenced to 65 months custody at Crown Court, this being his third conviction for robbery. Mr X was assessed to have problems with violence, temper control and aggressive/controlling behaviour and there were underlying concerns about domestic abuse. His associates in the community and custody were linked to his risk of serious harm posed to the public.

Mr X was first released in 2021, but recalled back to prison after committing a new violent offence against his partner at the time. When re-released in July 2023, it was agreed that a GPS tag would be part of his strengthened licence conditions, which was fitted at the prison gate on the morning of his release. Mr X fully complied with his licence and GPS requirements for the remaining months of his sentence, which he has now successfully completed.

At his last appointment, Mr X told his Probation Practitioner that he was happy with his achievement that he complied with the GPS tag, which had focused him on abiding by his conditions to avoid another recall and complete his licence.

Case study 2: GPS Knife Crime programme – Recall to prison:

Mr X was sentenced in August 2023 at Crown Court to a ten-month prison sentence for possession of an offensive weapon (hunting knife), driving whilst disqualified and several other driving offences. This was his fifth conviction for similar offences.

Mr X was unwilling to admit to his offences during his sentence or discuss them, but his assessment detailed concerns about his mental health and links to criminal associates. At the point of release in November 2023, Mr X was fitted with a GPS tag as he left the prison and released to a secure hostel.

Concerns became evident during his supervision period that Mr X did not reliably charge his GPS tag as required. GPS data also highlighted an incident early this year when Mr X was found to have driven dangerously at speeds of up to 100mph, including through his exclusion zone. This data led to Mr X being recalled back to prison and he was later charged with a range of new driving offences. He has now been convicted of these new offences and remains in prison, awaiting sentence.

Notes to Editors:

[1] Background to the GPS tagging pilot scheme and how it works:

The Mayor has announced a fresh £2.2m investment for his GPS tagging scheme, bringing his total investment in this area to more than £6.7m since 2019.

Real-time GPS data provides the London Probation Service with accurate location and tracking data and heatmap technology is used to show an overview of a tagged person’s movements during the course of a day, week or month as well as their lifestyle habits, ensuring that the probation service can closely monitor tagged offenders across all 32 London boroughs.

The data detects non-compliance from tagged offenders – including increased risk by those who may have entered an exclusion zone set-up to protect a victim once offenders have been released from prison. Previously, this behaviour might have gone untraced but now enforcement action can be taken promptly and where necessary to protect victims and bring perpetrators to account.

The Mayor’s GPS tagging programme is committed to tackling racial disproportionality and is being closely monitored and assessed at all times.

Data collected from the pilot has also been used to assist in crime mapping – the process with which crime incident patterns are analysed by police – to automatically cross-reference the movements of tagged offenders with reported crimes in London. Initial results of crime mapping indicates that the use of GPS tagging is a deterrent to further offending.

In total, 2,100 people have been tagged across both pilots so far. 1,509 of those on the knife crime programme, and 623 on the domestic abuse programme.

There are also currently 231 active cases in the GPS tagging scheme.

[2] The final GPS tagging knife crime programme report details the performance, process and impact evaluation of the extended GPS knife crime tagging pilot – covering over a three and a half-year implementation period (February 2019 – November 2022).

The full report and analysis can be viewed here: https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime-mopac/mopac-data-and-statistics/mopac-academic-research?ac-29300=208748

[3] Last year (May 2023), the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) published a new evaluation report on the GPS domestic abuse pilot, the first of its kind nationally. It can be viewed here: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-04/DA%20GPS%20tagging%20evaluation%20report%20final%20for%20publication.pdf.

The GPS domestic abuse tagging pilot will end in London at the end of May 2024.