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The recent O2 outage may very well be fixed now, but according to the Sun, criminals tagged with a probationary curfew may have been able to roam around freely whilst the network suffered from nationwide problems.
G4S, the security firm that issues the electronic tags utilise O2 SIM cards to track criminals, but were unable to enforce curfews due to the network outage. Network tracked vans that transport prisoners around to courtrooms were also affected by the blackout, enabling around 250 criminals to remain unchecked whilst they were ferried around.
A government spokesperson claimed that serious offenders were tied to their residences by landline phones, however, but still, worryingly a lot of criminals such as burglars and violent offenders were still intermittently untraceable.
I do wonder if any criminals managed to take advantage of this, but apparently at no time “public safety was compromised.” Assuring. [The Sun via The Telegraph]
Image credit: Police from Shutterstock
Don’t blame O2, blame G4S. Just blame them. If we blame them enough maybe they’ll admit how much of a fucking disaster their company is, and they can fuck off and let us deal with our security without compromise.
Don’t blame G4S, blame whatever morons in government thought that putting public safety in the hands of private for-profit companies is a good idea.
No, don’t blame government, or G4S!
Blame Canada!
http://youtu.be/bOR38552MJA
I blame that useless waste of space Theresa May.
Hopefully all this crap about drafting in troops as extra security for the Olympics, as G4S couldn’t hire / train enough staff in time, will show everyone that they’re far too incompetent to take over some privatised policing roles. I know Surrey Police has already decided to ditch their plans to outsource some of their work to G4S because of that cock up and hopefully others will follow suit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-surrey-18813591
G4S should go back to guarding gigs, pubs and clubs. It seems that they are woefully ill equipped to handle anything larger
…like the London Olympic Games? But that is with the help of the army….says it all!
I just don’t know what to do!
It just begs the question….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNJmfuEWR8w
Should have kept this quiet TBH. Previously I’d bet that the criminals didn’t know which cellular network their tags used, but now next time this happens they’ll know it’s O2…
The fine line between journalistic integrity and the safety of persons.
“journalistic integrity” – well theres your problem
I wonder if that’s a picture of Matt D…
Our Matt would never yawn on the job
I find that picture very funny but I feel sorry for that officer. One little yawn and boom you become Giz go to picture for cockups involving the law. Not to mention how the other officers probably made or make fun of him, assuming they read Giz UK of course.
Its possible that some criminal where unaware of what powered the technology strapped to their ankle, thanks to this article they do now!
G4S, are those the same clowns who the police officers told me were running the organization of the Jubilee celebrations??