London faces 100 daily electronic tag breaches ‘and rising’ as Met Police chief issues warning

London is recording 100 electronic tagging breaches every day "and rising", the Metropolitan Police commissioner has stated.

Sir Mark Rowley warned that numerous offenders are being bailed back into the public on identical conditions with "zero sanction".

He noted that the force is currently arresting "two or three early release offenders a week".

The initial stage of the latest early prison releases commenced last week, with nearly 5,000 inmates due to be freed in phases over the next year as the Sentencing Act 2026 takes effect.

Designed to alleviate prison overcrowding, the initiative follows an earlier scheme launched in 2024.

Speaking on LBC on Thursday, Sir Mark said: “I’m worried about the number of offenders being released into communities.

“At the moment we’re arresting two or three early release offenders a week who are being recalled to prison or doing further offending.

“That’s been since the start of August we’ve been capturing that data.

“We’re getting increasing numbers of tag breaches to enforce that probation is sending to us – it’s now over 100 tag breaches a day in London… and rising.”

Sir Mark agreed there is a “revolving door” of offending, adding: “If you’ve been given that chance and then you breach all your conditions, you should be back inside.

“We’re seeing 95 per cent-plus of the tagging breaches that we arrest are simply being bailed back into the community on the same condition, so there is zero sanction.”

Sir Mark’s comments come after justice secretary Alex Norris admitted on Sunday he was unable to say how many prisoners freed early have been tagged.

Officials have said there was a presumption that all criminals released early would be fitted with GPS tags, but Mr Norris said it was “too soon” to have the numbers.

Sir Mark said Labour has had to wrestle with the problem of overcrowding, saying there had been a “very poor approach from successive governments”.

He said: “One of the things when they announced these reforms, government felt they had no choice because prisons are full, and that is a really difficult choice. We shouldn’t pretend otherwise.”

Prisoners thanked the prime minister as they celebrated walking free from jail early last week.

As he left HMP Durham in the North East of England, one inmate said: “Justice system, what justice system? Thank you, Andy Burnham.”