KUALA LUMPUR – Police have fitted 6,576 offenders with electronic monitoring devices (EMD) since November 2015 up to November 15, 2023 to enable the monitoring of their movements, said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain.
Speaking to Utusan Malaysia, Razarudin said those fitted with the device are individuals involved in secret society activities, violent crimes, property-related offences, gambling, drugs, prostitution, migrant smuggling and commercial crimes.
EMDs, he said, are also applied for offenders under the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) 1959, the Security Offences Act (Special Measures) (Sosma) 2012 in addition to the Dangerous Drugs Act (Special Preventive Measures) 1985 and persons subject to arrest who are granted bail by the court under Section 388 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Razarudin further said the usage of EMD for offenders will help reduce repeat crimes as well as reduce overcrowding in prisons.
In order to overcome the issue involving congestion in prison, Razarudin said prisoners can be issued a parole order as well as wearing EMD for the purpose of monitoring by the authorities.
“Of the 6,576 offenders who wore EMD, we found that only 167 people under police supervision were reported to have reoffended and were charged in court.
“The percentage of repeat criminal incidents is approximately 3% of the total number of people supervised by the police,” he said.
Razarudin said in general, EMD devices will be installed on the wearer’s ankle while a set of EMD devices comprise several pieces of hardware, namely smart tags, beacons, straps and on-body chargers (OBC).
“For OBC, it is also portable with a wireless charger and waterproof.
“The binding of this device is also equipped with multiple size optical fibres in addition to being equipped with stainless and stretch-resistant steel straps,” he added.
According to him, when all equipment on the EMD is turned on, the authorities can track a person from wherever they are 24 hours a day.
“…this smart tag allows the authorities to communicate by way of Radio Frequency (RF), Global Tracking System (GPS), Mobile Communication Line System (GSM) and Wifi.
“In addition, those attached to the EMD can also be monitored through the system in addition to having a battery life of up to seven days,” he explained.
Razarudin said, this device is also waterproof up to 5m in accordance with the standard (IP-68) and is equipped with the latest SiRF 4 chipset and A-GPS. He said, this device is also equipped with a SIM chip that can communicate with various telcos and is easy to install.
“The EMD is also free from short circuits and is the lightest in the market at 68g. It can also withstand a pull force of up to 150kg and is difficult to cut.
“The device we (police) use is also the thinnest in the market, which has a thickness of 20mm up to 50mm,” he said.
In the meantime, Razarudin said, this EMD is also small in size and comes with a plug which can be detected within a radius of 200m remotely.
He explained that through the RF beacon, it can improve detection in interior locations and increase the smart tag battery. – December 20, 2023