UK to fit criminals with 24/7 GPS tags after successful pilot
Reoffending by burglars, robbers, and thieves has been reduced by 20% thanks to the tracking of their movements using tags, a new report by the Ministry of Justice reveals.
The study shows those forced to wear a GPS tag on release from prison were significantly more likely to stay on the straight and narrow, meaning less crime, fewer victims, and safer streets.
As part of the scheme, the movements of these offenders are monitored and mapped against the locations of recent unsolved burglaries, robberies, or thefts.
Any matches are shared with the police to help them investigate the crime and potential suspects, meaning the tag serves as a powerful deterrent to reoffending.
Eliminating suspects early on through GPS tagging has also freed up police to focus on other suspects and investigate more crimes, with evidence suggesting that the pilot helped police avoid making roughly 16,000 unnecessary adult arrests over three years.
The findings come as the latest figures showed that almost 20,000 offenders and defendants were wearing an electronic tag as of June 2025, a record high.
Tagging will be ramped up even further as part of the government’s sentencing reforms, with the annual probation budget increased by up to £700 million by 2028, to tag thousands more offenders.
How the pilot works
The Acquisitive Crime pilot began in 2021 and is currently available in 19 of 43 police force areas, namely: Avon & Somerset, Cheshire, Gloucestershire, Gwent, Humberside, West Midlands, Bedfordshire, City of London, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Metropolitan Police, North Wales, Nottinghamshire, and Sussex.
As of 2 June 2025, the total number of offenders and defendants fitted with an electronic monitoring device was 19,983.
The pilot deliberately targets “acquisitive” crimes such as burglary, theft, and robbery, which are offences that have among the worst charge and conviction rates.
Evidence suggests the pilot acted as an effective deterrent, with just 160 out of 3,360 offenders convicted due to their movements being mapped to unsolved crimes.
The technology also allows probation staff to keep a much closer eye on the whereabouts of offenders under their supervision, so they are better able to prevent them from falling back into a life of crime.
Last week, it was revealed that the number of probation officers has increased by 7% in the last 12 months, with trainee officer numbers also seeing a surge of 15 per cent.
This follows a pledge by the Lord Chancellor to recruit an additional 1,300 Probation Officers by March 2026 as part of a major boost of support for the Probation Service.
