Electronic Monitoring Enhancements

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS (Minister for Police, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Road Safety) (14:17): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. P. MALINAUSKAS: Following recent media and questioning in this place on the masking of ankle bracelets, I have sought assurances from the Department for Correctional Services about the performance of the system. I am extremely disappointed that offenders continue in their attempts to defeat the system and acknowledge the support provided by South Australia Police. However, for the benefit of the council and to provide the requisite assurances to the South Australian community, I am providing an update on the work that is being undertaken to enhance the system.

I continue to be briefed by the Department for Correctional Services on the steps they are taking and measures they are implementing to strengthen the detection and response capacity to this behaviour. As a result of these ongoing briefings, I have reviewed my comments to the council on Tuesday 17 May, following the questions from the Hon. Mr Hood.

For the sake of clarity, I would like to state that a loss of connection alert is immediately raised when the system fails to re-establish a connection. When communication is broken and a connection cannot be re-established between the monitoring centre and the ankle bracelet, it triggers an alert. In relation to the ongoing work being undertaken, I can advise that the department is deploying a number of enhancements, which include increasing the frequency of the programmed connection between the monitoring centre and the ankle bracelet, and automating the alert when the connection between the unit in the offender's home and the ankle bracelet is lost.

These two measures will strengthen the redundancy of the system when the GPS signal is lost, including when an offender attempts to mask the signal. This will further increase the likelihood of detection and increase the likelihood that the offender will be going to prison.

Recent advancements in electronic monitoring technology have significantly improved how we manage offenders in the community; however, the flip side of this is that, as the technology becomes more sophisticated, so does the resourcefulness of a small number of offenders who think they can beat the system.

I would stress to the council and the South Australian community that the monitoring of offenders in the community strengthens the supervision of offenders and is utilised by the Department for Correctional Services, SAPOL and the courts. I am reassured that the department continues to identify opportunities to strengthen the robustness of the system, making it easier for the department to detect a breach of conditions.

I have sought to maintain regular updates from the department about the progress of these improvements and other initiatives being undertaken to improve the system. I commit to keeping the council informed as this work continues.