A tagging tale: The work of the monitoring officer, electronically monitoring offenders in England and Wales

Abstract

This article will describe the work of Field Monitoring Officers (FMOs) employed by Premier Monitoring Services limited (PMS) one of the contract companies which provide the service of electronically monitoring offenders in England and Wales. It will explore the officer’s work and the difficulties which they face on a day to day basis. The content will in general be taken from my own experiences over a three and a half year period whilst employed as a FMO with PMS working from their Birmingham office, an office which covers a geographical area which spans the West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and in the early years of electronic monitoring (EM) Staffordshire. My own reflection will be reinforced with the experiences of both male and female, former and current, officers from predominately Birmingham but, also four2 of the other areas.