An Article by journalist, Nick Fielding, writing in The Sunday Times highlights the new unobtrusive tracking device by GlobalPoint Technologies and its application in child saftey.

FORMER electronics experts from the government’s GCHQ spy centre have invented a tracking device small enough to be sewn into a child’s satchel or school coat.

The device, slightly larger than a matchbox, could herald a new era in child protection. It allows parents to monitor their offspring’s movements on a website and locates them to within three yards in any area covered by mobile phone masts.

Weighing less than an ounce, the device, made by GlobalPoint Technologies in Tyneside, will cost just under £500 when it is launched later this month.

It works by picking up locator signals from satellites and sending them as a text message or via the mobile telephone network to a website. The tracker’s movements can then be monitored for up to 30 hours, at which point its battery will need recharging.

“We think this market is going to expand dramatically,” said Ian Rycroft, a company spokesman, last week. “Already tens of thousands of trackers are being installed in vehicles, but this is small and light enough to be easily carried.”

Designed by former GCHQ electronics experts, it is so small that it is unlikely to be noticed by an abductor. Its only limitation is that it will not work efficiently once someone is inside a thick-walled building.

The company says its device will have many uses besides child protection. Businesses could use it to monitor staff on delivery rounds and it could also be used to track offenders.

At present someone who has been tagged under a court order has to plug a box into the telephone system in their house. It only reacts if they leave the property, but then cannot indicate where they are.

“Our tracker can incorporate a motion detector or give a warning if someone enters or leaves a specified area,” says Rycroft. “It can even be set up with a microphone inside to broadcast voices.”

The market for vehicle tracking devices is set for enormous expansion. Under proposals recently announced by the chancellor, Gordon Brown, by 2005 all commercial vehicles will have to carry a tracker that will monitor their road usage, in order to calculate their road tax. It is likely that the same principle will eventually be applied to domestic vehicles.

Last night Chris Parsons, founder of the national Safe Child Scheme, welcomed the new device, but added: “It should not be seen as a substitute for vigilance by parents.”