Key insights (AI-powered):
Increasing volumes of criminal surveillance indicate that the public safety IoT segment is mature but still under-penetrated. Scale growth will force providers to optimize device power budgets, connectivity costs and cloud analytics to achieve highly available, evidence-based data. The disparity in adoption of RF compared to GPS suggests ongoing regional fragmentation and challenges providers to support multiple technology stacks and compliance regimes. The shift towards victim protection and alcohol monitoring use cases expands the requirements from simple location tracking to more comprehensive sensor fusion, aligning EM with the broader trend of specialized mission-critical IoT platforms in regulated areas.
The electronic surveillance market is expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2030 as EM programs expand in Europe, the Americas and Oceania
Berg Insight, the leading IoT market research provider, today released new insights Electronic Monitoring (EM) of Criminals Market.
The number of concurrent participants in EM programs in Europe, North America, Latin America and Oceania in 2025 was approximately 92,000, 564,000, 162,000 and 11,000, respectively.
The total number of EM program participants for the full year 2025 reached 285,000 in Europe, 959,000 in North America, 357,000 in Latin America and 33,000 in Oceania.
Berg Insight estimates that by 2030 the number of concurrent participants will increase to 130,000 in Europe, 700,000 in North America, 278,000 in Latin America and 16,000 in Oceania. The market value in 2025 reached $365 million in Europe, $1.1 billion in North America, $97 million in Latin America and $31 million in Oceania. The total market value in the four regions combined is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.9 percent from $1.6 billion in 2025 to $2.2 billion in 2030.
Electronic monitoring programs (EM). was first introduced in the United States in the early 1980s. Today, EM is a well-established alternative to incarceration throughout Europe and North America, as well as in some Latin American and Oceanic countries. EM programs aim to increase offender accountability, reduce recidivism rates, and improve public safety by providing an additional tool to traditional methods of community supervision. Policymakers, corrections authorities, and private sector service providers are advocating for expanded EM programs to reduce the overall cost of the correctional system and address prison overcrowding.
Two predominant technologies are used for electronic surveillance: radio frequency (RF) and GPS. RF-based systems are now the most common type of solution in most European countries. In the USA, Australia and New Zealand, in Oceania, Brazil and other Latin American countries, GPS-based solutions are used in the vast majority of cases. A number of private companies are involved in the provision of EM, including the development, supply and installation of equipment, the provision of monitoring services and the provision of other support services.
Leading EM equipment and services providers include US-based BI Inc. (GEO Group), Allied Universal Electronic Monitoring, Sentinel Offender Services, SCRAM Systems, Securus Technologies, Shadowtrack, Corrisoft, Talitrix and Track Group; UK-based Buddi; Israel-based SuperCom; Enigma (COMP Group), based in Poland; Geosatis based in Switzerland; and Brazil-based companies Spacecom, Synergye and UE Brasil Tecnologia.
“The EM market is highly competitive and characterized by high entry barriers and pricing pressure”says Filip Andersson, IoT analyst at Berg Insight. A handful of established players control a large share of the global market.
Even though electronic monitoring has been around for around 40 years, the form factor of the monitoring device has hardly changed. In recent years, new, discreetly designed, wrist-worn GPS devices have come onto the market, making monitoring less intrusive to the wearer and reducing the stigma associated with ankle bracelets. Devices that combine GPS tracking and alcohol monitoring are also increasingly being used as part of EM programs.
“Solutions aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes from the perpetrator have become increasingly common in recent years.”continues Mr. Andersson.
Some countries have expanded the use of domestic violence programs because these crimes are more common in some jurisdictions. Public concern has increased pressure on governments to respond to the growing number of domestic violence-related crimes. At the same time, prison overcrowding and rising incarceration costs continue to pose significant challenges in many jurisdictions.
Mr. Andersson concludes:
“The potential for EM in all four regions remains promising and EM programs are expected to increase in size over the next few years.”
