Townsville Don't miss out on the headlines from Townsville. Followed categories will be added to My News. The LNP has hinted a major shake-up could soon be on the cards for how GPS bracelets are used to track teenage criminals on bail, not only with expanding their use but also by tightening laws around them.
There have been longstanding calls from the Queensland Police Union to broaden the use of GPS ankle bracelets to monitor repeat juvenile offenders released on bail. In the What Cops Want series, many officers were sceptical, but most supported the idea, with some suggesting every property offender on bail should be fitted with one. “GPS tracking could definitely help identify offenders and prosecute more efficiently.
But I feel a lot of juveniles won’t care because it’s the sentencing that’s far too lenient,” one officer noted. Others highlighted urgent flaws in the current system that needed fixing, saying that it took up to 11 hours to retrieve GPS data from England. “The delay and 500m margin for error make it pretty useless for stopping youth crime,” one officer said.
Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said GPS trackers could be useful, but it was just one part of their broader strategy for managing bail. Currently, only nine young offenders in Queensland are wearing the devices, spread across South Brisbane (3), North Brisbane (1), Ipswich (1), Townsville (2), and the Gold Coast (2). Since the trial began in May 2021, 58 unique offenders aged 15 an.
