Outgoing ACT chief police officer Neil Gaughan wants the electronic monitoring of offenders introduced as soon as possible, claiming it would solve much of the problems associated with the territory's prolific and repeated bail and parole violations.
"If the Commonwealth government can get it [electronic monitoring] literally stood up in hours, there's no reason why we can't," Deputy Commissioner Gaughan said.
"I cannot get the argument as to why we don't have them; it's ridiculous."
The revolving door of recidivism, with the same offenders committing offences time and again, has been such a long-running and significant problem in the territory that 19 months ago, ACT police kicked off Operation Toric (Targeting of Recidivists In Canberra).
Last month the team recorded its 400th arrest, with over 1100 charges laid. Police said it would remain as an "ongoing specialist capability" while the recidivism issue rolls on and on.
But with the ACT as the only police jurisdiction in the country which does not have electronic monitoring, Deputy Commissioner Gaughan - who has been the territory's longest-serving top cop for two decades - said that without breach of bail becoming a substantive offence, options open to the judiciary were limited.
He wants ankle bracelets for the territory's repeat bail offenders, high risk family violence offenders and parolees, as is the case in NSW where Corrective Services has around 608 parolees and offenders on extended supervision orders while fitted with the tamper-proof ankle tags.
NSW also has around 253 offenders with electronic monitoring as a condition of an intensive corrections order and about 299 inmates with electronic monitoring who are participating in external leave programs (day/weekend/work leave) from correctional centres.
Under a new, multi-agency collaborative domestic violence strategy, the NSW Domestic Violence Electronic Monitoring (DVEM) program applies hard exclusion zones to "high risk" offenders so that if they enter a prohibited region an alarm is immediately sent back to the monitoring room.
There are 40 domestic violence offenders on the DVEM program and about 20 of their victims, which allows Corrective Services NSW to track the offender's movement against the location of the victim. All devices are supplied by proven UK manufacturer Buddi.
The ACT government has attempted to introduce electronic monitoring - ankle bracelets which cannot be removed - twice before, the first time in 2001, then again in 2016-17.
Now it is spending $297,000 on a third feasibility study which it says is "considering the technical capabilities and limitations of electronic monitoring and examining emerging technologies".
"The experiences of other jurisdictions tells us that electronic monitoring by itself is not the whole answer," an ACT spokesperson said.
"The government is taking the time to consider the all the options before committing to a plan."
Deputy Commissioner Gaughan said that the technology was well understood and an EM program was "stood up" in hours by the Commonwealth late last year when the High Court ruled that 93 immigrants on indefinite detention should be released into the community.
He also said that using the devices would "de-stigmatise" those who are required to report regularly to a police station under their bail conditions.
"People see them [those reporting for bail] walking into a police station, they are in there for two seconds, people know why, so let's get rid of that," he said.
"First nations kids, they don't like going into police stations, so let's stop it.
"All we need to know is that you are in Canberra and you are going to court."
