It
is reported that the NSW Community Services and Family Minister Pru Goward is
proposing to take the monitoring of domestic violence offenders to another
level. The Minister believes that there is merit in the idea for repeat
domestic violence offenders to be strapped with GPS tracking bracelets.
The
concern raised is for police to be able to respond to a domestic violence situation
in a timely manner and GPS tracking would provide the police with additional
assistance in maintaining a prompt response to those reported situations. The
proposal was originally visited in 2012 during a NSW parliamentary inquiry
however there were initial concerns raised about the cost and reliability of a
tracking system put in place.
Ms
Goward is pushing for the proposal to be revisited to investigate how
advancements in technology may help improve the safety of victims and deter
recorded perpetrators. The Minister would also like to see the taskforce look
at funding with regards to the devices, including making the offender pay for the
cost of the GPS tracking bracelet itself.
Although
there are no current proposals for GPS tracking to be looked into in the state
of Queensland, it is reported that the proposal has also been flagged in
Western Australia.
Source:
The Australian
