Victoria Police considering GPS trackers for domestic abusers
Victoria Police has revealed the force is considering GPS technology to monitor high-risk family violence offenders. It comes as police fight an explosion in stalking technology, making it easier for dangerous perpetrators to pry on their victims.
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Police are considering using GPS trackers to monitor high-risk family violence offenders.
Assistant Commissioner Dean McWhirter, of the Family Violence Command, has revealed the force is studying a groundbreaking $2.5 million trial in Tasmania, and is considering a similar rollout here.
The GPS trackers would monitor the most dangerous perpetrators. This could include those who stalk their victims.
Alarming police figures reveal more than 22,000 females, including children, have been stalked or harassed by domestic abusers in Victoria in the past decade.
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Advances in technology such as spy cameras and tracking and listening devices have contributed to an explosion of family violence stalking cases.
Last year, Victoria Police recorded 3807 incidents, a fivefold increase in 10 years.
Melbourne mum Felicity (not her real name), 46, said her ex-partner installed apps on her iPad which could detect the IP address of anyone who entered her home.
She said he used them to interrogate her on what she did and who she saw each day.
He also gave her son a watch fitted with a GPS tracker, and reset her car odometer to track her movements. “I didn’t feel safe. He would use them to pry,” she said.
CEO of the Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria, Emily McGuire, said research showed that tech-facilitated abuse occurred in almost all abusive relationships. That included threats via texts, calls and social media. About a third of abuse cases involved GPS tracking.
Ms McGuire said: “At the moment, it’s up to women to make sure they know what’s on their phone and to have tech experts look at it and remove these apps.”
Mr McWhirter said stalking was considered a “significant” risk factor to victims.
“It can be an indicator about how behaviour might change,” he said.
In the Tasmania trial, police can apply to the courts to have a GPS tracker fitted as a condition of a family violence order. Victims can also opt to have a tracking device that alerts police if their abuser is nearby.
Mr McWhirter said Victoria Police would look at the trial to “develop a policy position” toward trackers.
Last month, the federal government offered the states funding to monitor domestic violence perpetrators through GPS tracking. NSW, SA and Tasmania have opted in.
Ms McGuire said the onus should not be on the victim to monitor a tormentor. “If a woman knows where her perpetrators is, that doesn’t mean she’s safe from him,” she said. “The purpose of leaving a violent partner is to be free.”
The Commonwealth government is also funding a tool which can detect malicious or covertly installed software on devices.
In the murder trial of Fernando Paulino, 55, there were allegations he stalked estranged wife Teresa, 49, before stabbing her to death in her Reservoir garage in 2013.
Dr Troy McEwan, from Swinburne University’s Centre for Forensic and Behavioural Science, said a third of stalking cases involved physical violence, and technology had given perpetrators better access to their victims.
“Stalkers don’t have to physically follow their victims anymore,” she said.
“The ability to monitor them has vastly expanded with apps on phones, small cameras and listening devices. It’s more invasive.”
For 24/7 support, phone the national family violence counselling line 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).