David Leppard
2 for 1 tickets to Casablanca, this coming Monday
THE government has quietly abandoned its “spy-in-the sky” scheme to track paedophiles because the plan has serious technical flaws.
The revolutionary use of satellites to monitor the movements of sex offenders after prison was presented by successive home secretaries as “a prison-without-bars” that would allay the public’s fears about child abusers.
However, officials say plans to launch the system nationwide have been dropped after a pilot found that the signal emitted from the tracking devices could be blocked by clouds, buildings or leaves. It was also lost underground and on some trains.
The Ministry of Justice has decided to focus instead on lie detectors as a means of controlling paedophiles released on parole. The U-turn will leave ministers facing accusations that they have failed to address the threat that communities face from 30,000 registered sex offenders.
The scheme uses technology similar to GPS in cars. An ankle tag broadcasts a radio wave that is then pinpointed by four satellites. But a report on the pilot scheme for sex offenders in Man-chester and one for violent offenders in Birmingham and Hampshire said the signal became confused unless there were at least four satellites in “line of sight” of the tag.
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of Napo, the probation officers’ union, said: “The abandonment of satellite tracking comes as no surprise. It was hugely expensive.” He added: “The polygraph [lie detector] is likely to be of limited value because sex offenders can manipulate outcomes.”
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This couldn't have been better reported in Brass Eye's programme, the peadophile special, dealing with the hysteria that the media drummed up about the issue.
Austin Tassletine, South West, UK
How utterly ridiculous, anybody with even the slightest idea of how satellite navigation/tracking works would have known that this would not work, but as usual another load of public money is wasted by the idiots at the top. Why not just castrate the pedophiles, or stick them back in prison where they belong. I.E. as far removed from public society as possible.
Simon, V.Water, Surrey
I wrote to Mr. Blunkett about exactly this problem in 2005. My letter was ignored and the Government subsequently wasted tens of millions of pounds. We should, I suppose, be grateful that it was not billions wasted, which is de riguer for New Labour technology projects these days.
Ken Tindell, Newport,
Oh God why do they bother................give the offender a ball and chain then we'll know what theyve done without asking then we can give them a wide berth...................... Eyes in the sky...........where do these politicians come from. Hello, get a reality check.....................
mike, Scarboro, UK