Met Police to Pilot Lighter Enforcement on Minor Electronic Tag Breaches
Metropolitan Police will trial ignoring minor electronic tag breaches amid a revolving door of justice and 100 daily violations in London.
POLICY WIRE — London, United Kingdom — The Metropolitan Police is preparing to scale back enforcement against criminals who commit minor violations of their electronic tagging conditions, according to information obtained by Sky News.
This strategic shift comes in response to severe resourcing constraints and the fallout from the government’s controversial early prisoner release initiative.
Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley issued a strong warning regarding a revolving door of justice currently plaguing the legal system.
Police officers across London are now forced to handle upwards of 100 electronic tag breaches every single day.
Sir Mark criticized Labour’s early release scheme, pointing out that his personnel waste valuable time hunting down offenders who break tag rules, only for the courts to hand down zero sanctions.
Meanwhile, recent findings from watchdogs highlighted that dangerous stalkers continue to walk free on bail despite violating electronic monitoring orders more than 30 times.
During an interview with LBC, Britain’s most senior police officer elaborated on the staggering volume of daily violations.
We are getting increasing numbers of tag breaches to enforce that probation is sending to us, Sir Mark told LBC, noting the figure has now surpassed 100 tag breaches a day in London.
He added that even when police successfully track down and arrest these individuals, courts frequently release them right back onto the streets on bail under the exact same conditions.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
