Concerns about failed ankle monitor provider BailSafe date back to 2024

Concerns about failed monitoring firm BailSafe were raised as far back as the second half of last year, months before it was confirmed the company had shut down without informing authorities.

Concerns about failed monitoring firm BailSafe were raised as far back as the second half of last year, months before it was confirmed the company had shut down without informing authorities.

BailSafe is understood to have been still responsible for monitoring more than 20 accused criminals when an investigation by The Daily Telegraph discovered they had ceased operations, a revelation that caught NSW Police and the state government by surprise last week.

Police have since been tasked by the Attorney-General with tracking down those individuals, much to the anger of the state’s police union.

But long before BailSafe’s demise was confirmed last week concerns about the monitoring company are understood to have been raised by their own clients.

Legal sources said they had taken matters into their own hands and switched their clients away from BailSafe monitors last year, concerned the company’s issues would land defendants back behind bars through no fault of their own.

Concerns about BailSafe were raised as far back as last year. Generic picture: NewsWire / Morgan Sette

“November last year was when we switched everybody over from BailSafe to Attenti,” one legal source said.

“It was largely because of issues contacting them. One week you could catch them straight away when you rang, other weeks it would take days or longer for them to get back to you.

“The concern was that clients would be considered to have breached their bail, even if they had tried to get the problems with their ankle monitors fixed by BailSafe.”

The switching away from BailSafe to another private monitoring firm required defendants to return to the NSW Supreme Court to apply for a bail variation.

BailSafe burst onto the scene in the last 18 months and became popular for being cheaper than rival private companies.

But one issue that is understood to have regularly presented itself was battery life, which was ultimately what led to BailSafe silently ceasing operations being uncovered last month.

BailSafe is understood to have been still responsible for monitoring more than 20 accused criminals when The Daily Telegraph last week revealed it had ceased operations. Generic picture: Eddie Safarik

When a vicious storm knocked power out to embattled rehabilitation facility Connect Global at Swan Bay for three days in mid-January, it left at least three residents wearing BailSafe monitors unable to charge their devices.

However, it has been confirmed that Bailsafe never contacted authorities or the rehab centre to check on the “clients” despite the devices’ batteries being dead.

Sources said phone calls from the rehab centre to Bailsafe, attempting to warn the company about the power issue, were not answered and not returned.

The farcical BailSafe situation led Victoria’s Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny to announce a snap ban on private bail monitoring companies in the state last week.

NSW Attorney-General Michael Daley refused to follow the lead of his southern counterpart, despite calls from both the Police Association of NSW and Public Services Association to give the responsibility for bail monitoring to Corrective Services – who already handle GPS monitoring for criminals on parole.

The Daily Telegraph has tried unsuccessfully multiple times to contact BailSafe founder Jackson Oppy.

However, the ABC has reported Mr Oppy told them he disputed that BailSafe was monitoring anybody when he shut the company down.