Burglars and thieves will be tracked using electronic tags and restrictions on the use of police stop-and-search powers will be scrapped under plans to be announced by Boris Johnson today.
The prime minister will use his first day after leaving quarantine to present a package of measures aimed at “beating crime” as he attempts to shift his premiership away from coronavirus.
All burglars, robbers and thieves who have served a jail sentence of a year will automatically be fitted with a GPS tag on their release, allowing their movements to be tracked. Offenders will also be required to carry out unpaid work such as cleaning the streets and picking litter while they are on probation so they are “visibly and publicly making reparations for their crimes”.
The GPS scheme, which will be implemented in half of police forces in England and Wales, will enable officers to cross-reference the location of prolific offenders with crimes as part of a move to reduce reoffending.
Ministers will extend the use of so-called sobriety tags, which detect alcohol in the sweat of offenders. They are fitted to released prisoners who have committed alcohol-related crimes to discourage them from drinking.
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In a significant break with his predecessor, Johnson will also announce a permanent end to restrictions imposed by Theresa May on the police’s use of stop-and-search as he tries to tackle knife crime.
His announcement comes amid a row with the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, after the government announced a pay freeze. It dismissed the plans yesterday as “gimmicks”.
Johnson said: “If we are to succeed in levelling up this country we must give everyone the security and confidence that comes from having a safe street and a safe home. None of us can fulfil our potential if we live in fear; none of us can rise up if we’re held down by those who would do us harm.
“If we as a society, as a country, are to truly flourish then we have to start by beating crime — and I’m proud that this government has a plan to do just that.”
May announced the restrictions on the use of stop-and-search as one of her principal policies as home secretary, responding to concerns that black people were seven times more likely to be stopped than white people. The curbs included requiring authorisation to carry out searches issued by an assistant chief constable as well as intelligence that a serious violent event will take place.
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Priti Patel, the home secretary, announced a nationwide pilot scheme lifting the restrictions in 2019, describing stop-and-search as a “vital tool” in fighting knife crime. The conditions will now be permanently relaxed as part of a move to “empower” police officers.
The tags for prolific burglars, thieves, and robbers were tested in March by six forces. This will now be extended to 13 other forces, including the Metropolitan Police, Kent, Essex and Derbyshire in the autumn. The government will extend the use of alcohol tags, which have already been tested in England, to newly released offenders in Wales.
Ministers have also directed the Probation Service to ensure that offenders do more activities outdoors so that people can see they are being given “appropriate punishment”. They are concerned that the public do not see enough of offenders making reparations in the community.
Other plans announced by the government include league tables for 101 and 999 call-answering times, a £17 million package to encourage young people who go to hospital with stab wounds to contact police and a £45 million investment in supporting vulnerable young people in schools.
The prime minister is due to make a visit with Patel today to announce the plans. He was left frustrated last week after being forced into isolation when Sajid Javid, the health secretary, tested positive for coronavirus.
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His quarantine meant that plans to return to his domestic agenda on the two-year anniversary of his premiership, including overhauling social care, had to be delayed. A meeting will be held later in the year to boost opportunities for prison leavers to get jobs, and the government will aim to recruit 1,000 ex-offenders into the civil service by 2023.
In terms of illegal drugs, a scheme to support addicts that was tested in Blackpool will be expanded to eight other areas, and police use of drug testing on arrest will rise with the aim of curbing recreational drug use.
A cross-government meeting will also be held with the aim of reducing demand for drugs, and an annual homicide meeting, attended by officers from the forces with the highest rates of violent deaths, will also take place.
Stop-and-search is always either the answer or the problem (John Simpson writes). It has been repeatedly vaunted as the “tough on crime” answer to rises in inner-city stabbings, but the supporting evidence is patchy.
The government’s removal of controls on section 60 powers will be welcomed by many senior police officers, particularly at Scotland Yard.
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The Met uses the powers, which mean that for a limited time officers do not need to suspect a crime to search anyone in a geographical zone around the scene of a violent crime, more than any other force.
However, the huge increase in section 60 searches under Dame Cressida Dick’s leadership have been criticised for failing to deliver any parallel reduction in violence. This year is set to be the worst in the capital for teenage murders since 2008, with almost all of the deaths stabbings.
Police officers of every rank view the tactic as an important tool in efforts to clamp down on knife crime and the swing away from it after nationwide riots in 2011 is seen as a mistake. Despite this, studies have failed to prove a correlation between ramping up stop-and-search and falls in violence, and concerns are often raised about discrimination.
In February, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary found that black people were 18 times more likely than white people to be stopped under section 60.
