Arsonists to be Monitored with GPS Tracking
28 May 2013Australian government to monitor arsonists with GPS technology.
Throughout Australia, arson-related crimes are on the rise which has led to the current crackdown. In Victoria, especially, first-time arsonists and serial arsonists are getting away with destroying property and the Victorian state government hopes to put an end to it with GPS trackers.
Current legislation allows the mandatory monitoring of arsonists who have been caught and convicted of lighting fires in the area. In the past, the only monitoring allowed in Australia was for serious sex offenders, but due to the rise in deliberate fires of Victoria and other areas, the courts are allowing this provision.
Each arsonist that has been convicted of the crime and is released from jail will get a GPS tracking device installed on their person. This will help local law enforcement monitor their movements and alert the authorities if they get close to a prohibited zone, such as a national park or forest area. They hope it will prevent the arsonist from starting fires in these areas. If the arsonist gets close to a national park, for example, their GPS unit goes off and sends an alert to the authorities of their location.
Between 2005 and 2010, there were 140 people convicted of arson in Victoria alone, 56 of whom were sentenced to serve jail time. One such case was a very high profile arson case in Australia where an arsonist started a fire in Churchill which burnt 36,000 hectares and killed 10 people on Black Saturday. The arsonist, Brendan James Sokaluk, was convicted and sentenced to 17 years and nine months in prison.
Every year, there are approximately 18,000 fires started deliberately in the Victoria area of Australia, with only one percent leading to a conviction. According to research conducted by Monash, arson in Victoria has cost approximately $1.1 billion not including human costs.
These startling numbers are what led the Victoria state government to introduce the monitoring system. Ted Baillieu, who was up for the 2010 election, originally introduced the monitoring idea. This was part of a $5 million policy to track sex offenders in the state with GPS tracking technology. Baillieu suggested monitoring the convicted arsonists as well. Arsonists and serious sex offenders will be monitored and tracked even when they are out of range of the unit.
Unfortunately, the technology isn’t going to be available for the upcoming fire season. Experts are currently working on expanding the maximum distance that the GPS trackers are able to monitor. When it is available, there are currently at least five convicted arsonists who are going to be released from the Australian corrections system and outfitted with the GPS monitoring device.
For Victoria and other areas of Australia, they could soon become a leader in using GPS tracking technology and research of arson for agencies and communities being affected by these types of crimes.
Comments are closed.