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Editor’s Note: Once again, to stop dissent, it all starts with “Its for the children.”
By Brendan Roberts~Herald Sun
VICTORIA’S new Deputy Commissioner wants hi-tech satellite-tracking devices used to monitor the worst child-sex offenders.
Deputy Commissioner Ken Jones said the technology – which would see child-sex fiends tracked by a global positioning system fitted after they leave prison – was needed to protect children.
“I think 21st century policing has to be open to opportunities given to us by technology, just as criminals are,” Mr Jones told the Herald Sun.
“The technology is coming. It sounds a bit Orwellian, but providing it is proportionate and it is used against those who present our children with the highest threat, I don’t see why we should say no.
“Ultimately, it is one for the Premier to talk about and for the Prime Minister, but it’s for us as law enforcement to offer our advice.”
Mr Jones, who was one of Britain’s top cops before taking up the role left by new Chief Commissioner Simon Overland, said current ankle tag bracelets used to monitor dangerous sex offenders were outdated.
“Tagging looks pretty crude to what I think could (come in),” he said.
But he stopped short of advocating the use of surgically implanted GPS microchips – similar to ones used in the US to monitor the movements of Alzheimer’s sufferers and to store the medical information of high-risk patients.
“As for the implantation of chips, that’s for someone else to talk about,” he said.
“When you look at mobile telephony, you look at GPS, we’re almost there.”
According to Corrections Victoria there are currently 22 convicted sex offenders in Victoria fitted with electronic ankle bracelets as part of extended supervision orders.
The ankle bracelets are linked to a central monitoring system via a unit set up at the offender’s residence.
The unit notifies the central server of any breaches.
Several states in the US use GPS tracking devices to monitor the movements of convicted and dangerous sex offenders.
The devices transmit signals sent to computers that display the location of the offender’s movements minute by minute, providing a map of where the offender has been.
They alert authorities when the offender has entered a restricted area such as a school, park or area where children congregate.
GPS microchip implants have been used to track the whereabouts of Alzheimer’s sufferers in the US.
Similar devices – the length of a grain of rice – have also been surgically inserted under the skin of other patients.
Proposals for a microchip to track sex offenders have been debated worldwide.
Mr Jones said his desire to use the new technology was borne out of several close encounters he had with pedophiles in Britain.
“I’ve sat down with some of the worst of the worst and they’ve said they just can’t help themselves, they need all support to stop,” he said.
Some of the state’s most notorious child sex offenders, including Brian “Mr Baldy” Jones, Robin Fletcher and Andrew Timothy Davies, could be considered for the GPS technology.
