Offenders forced to wear booze-monitoring tags over Christmas have more than doubled in a year, latest figures reveal. These clever devices track alcohol levels in sweat, helping crack down on festive booze-fuelled crime.
Christmas Booze Tags Crack Down on Festive Crime
Last Christmas, around 800 offenders were tagged to keep them off the sauce. This year, that number has shot up to over 1,600.
The high-tech tags don’t just detect alcohol; they’re precise enough to tell the difference between tiny traces from foods like brandy sauce on Christmas Pudding and actual drinks like mulled wine, which can get offenders drunk.
97% Success Rate Keeps Offenders Sober
Courts ban some offenders from alcohol entirely, and those wearing tags stayed dry on 97% of the days monitored. Drinkers risk being hauled back to court for tougher punishments, including jail.
Slashing Alcohol-Fuelled Violence
Alcohol is a factor in 39% of violent crimes in the UK, with cases of domestic abuse often rising over the festive period – a trend well documented by charities such as Women’s Aid.
“Alcohol-fuelled crime such as domestic abuse is known to spike over the festive period, but our new alcohol tags can help stop that – protecting victims and tackling the causes of offending,” said Prisons and Probation Minister Damian Hinds.
“We’re investing £183 million in electronic monitoring and the increased use of sobriety tags is already helping to keep our communities safer.”
£183 Million Boost for Electronic Monitoring
The booze tags form part of a massive £183 million government investment over three years to fight crime using cutting-edge tagging tech. Around 12,000 tagging orders are expected in this period.
Since their rollout in 2020, these tags punish alcohol-fuelled offenders and prevent those likely to commit crimes while drunk from slipping up again.
The devices are used for community sentences and as licence conditions for recent prison leavers, with around 20% of probation supervisees battling drink problems.
Alcohol-driven crime costs society a staggering £21 billion annually.
GPS Tags Target Burglars and Thieves
Last year, the government also broke new ground by launching GPS tags to track robbers and burglars, aiming to stop offenders reoffending and help police nab repeat criminals.
The £183 million fund is set to nearly double offenders on tags at any one time – from 13,500 in 2021 to 25,000 by 2025.
