Recommendation 20

HMPPS launched an acquisitive crime pilot in April 2021 to impose location monitoring on prison leavers convicted for theft, burglary or robbery offences. The 19 police forces participating in the pilot send data on alleged acquisitive offenders to HMPPS’s system, which compares this with GPS location data to assist forces’ investigation of crime when there has been a match.37 HMPPS told us that the pilot had helped the police to secure 30 charges for acquisitive offences and that the police forces value the scheme. It told us that it was early days for the pilot, but it was testing whether the scheme was leading 32 C&AG’s report, Figure 5 33 Q 54; C&AG’s report, para 4.1 34 Q 67, 69; C&AG’s report, Figure 15 35 Q 61 36 Qq 68–69 37 C&AG’s report, Figure 15 and para 4.7 Transforming electronic monitoring services 15 to longer-term changes in offenders’ behaviour. It explained that it planned to evaluate the scheme over the next three years and will not extend it further until it has evidence that it is working.38 We noted that HMPPS had achieved better capability in the pilot for a smaller upgrade compared to its £98 million investment in the Gemini case management system. HMPPS believed that the technology used in the pilot is better than the planned functionality that the Gemini case management system and user portal were designed for originally. It told us this was the first time that it has been leveraging the power of location data from GPS tags and that it sees future opportunities to use the data more broadly.39