The Mayor of London’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the Secretary of State for Justice (SSJ) have agreed to make significant changes to a scheme for GPS tracking people released on licence in London following custodial sentences for offences involving knives. Under this flagship initiative, people selected for electronic monitoring are required to wear a GPS tracker 24 hours a day, which generates a detailed record of their movements.
The changes to the scheme follow a judicial review brought by Black Equity Organisation (BEO) which contended that the defendants’ decision to extend the scheme was unlawful because, among other grounds, MOPAC’s criteria for selecting people for GPS tracking (which were applied by SSJ officials) were indirectly discriminatory on grounds of race, and the defendants had breached the Public Sector Equality Duty, including by failing to take steps to monitor and understand racial disproportionality in the operation of the scheme. That was in circumstances where statistical analysis showed that Black people were almost twice as likely to be selected for GPS tracking as a condition of their licence as compared to white people eligible for selection. As part of the settlement, the defendants have agreed (among other things) to withdraw the selection criteria (which for example, included a criteria relating to links to gangs); collect, evaluate and publish data relating to selection for GPS tracking; to undertake a rapid review (including a review by an independent expert) to investigate and identify strategies to mitigate racial disproportionality in the operation of the scheme; and to invite BEO to join the SSJ’s Electronic Monitoring Advisory Group.
Raj Desai and Aidan Wills acted for BEO, instructed by Megan Goulding and Katy Watts at Liberty.
The Court Order reflecting the settlement is here, BEO’s statement is here. This case featured on ITV News; the clip can be found here.