A SEVERE lack of police resources is leaving the north region’s children at risk, with known child sex offenders going unmonitored for extended periods of time - and even being lost from the system entirely.
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The Police Association of NSW (PANSW) has called for an urgent increase in the number of police to investigate child sex offences and additional police to monitor people on the child protection register – the list of convicted child sex offenders living in our communities.
Executive member of the PANSW, representing the Hunter Valley, Ian Allwood said “in order to ensure the safety of our children, the minimum standard should be one police officer dedicated to monitoring every 30 offenders”.
“At the moment, responsibility to monitor those on the child protection register falls to local police, who are already stretched to capacity.
“It is undertaken on a part-time, ad-hoc basis while conducting other serious investigations.
“In the north region, we need an additional 40 dedicated officers in our local commands to ensure we can monitor those on the Child Protection Register properly.
“We know there are more than 4000 offenders on the Child Protection Register statewide, and about 1060 in our region.
“But, only a fraction of those are monitored regularly due to the fact that we simply don’t have enough police to do the job.
“We know we need a ratio of one dedicated full-time officer to every 30 offenders to be able to proactively manage paedophiles on the list.”
Mr Allwood admitted the legislation in this area was strong.
“Police have the powers to actively monitor and stop these offenders targeting our children, but we just don’t have the resources to do it properly,” he explained.
“The Child Protection Register is our way of keeping an eye on these grubs, to prevent reoffending, and to protect our kids.
“The officers who do this work day in and day out are stretched to capacity, often with one or two officers managing in excess of 100 convicted offenders.”
The PANSW also claims more detectives were needed in the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad - those who respond to offences committed upon children.
“At present, detectives in these squads are stretched beyond capacity, dealing with the 9527 reports that require 4583 investigations every year,” Mr Allwood said.
“These detectives do amazing and disturbing work arresting and prosecuting paedophiles, but we need more of them.
“A further 101 detectives are required in these squads in Sydney and around the state.
“It’s not an either/or situation.
“We need more police to lock up the paedophiles, but every conviction means another person on the Child Protection Register, so we also need police in our commands and districts to monitor them in our communities.
“This area of policing has been under resourced for years.
“Past decisions have left our children vulnerable.
“It’s time to resource these squads and our districts and commands so we can keep our children safe.”
Key facts:
* There are currently approximately 4000 known offenders on the Child Protection Register in NSW
* There are approximately 1060 known offenders on the Child Protection Register in the northern region
* The reoffending rate within four years is 46 per cent
* There are 201 people on the Child Protection Register whose whereabouts are unknown
* There are approximately 80 unidentified child sex offenders whose DNA is on the database
* There are 62 offenders whose DNA is untested
* There are 9527 reports that require 4583 investigation every year
* More than 4500 charges are laid a year
* 150 dedicated Detectives are required in Police Area Commands and Police Districts to intrusively monitor the growing numbers on the register
* 12 additional Detectives are required in the Central Child Protection Registry to ensure legislation is utilised to its full force
* 67 additional Detectives are required in Child Abuse Units to investigate and prosecute child sex offenders
* 16 additional Detectives are required in the Child Exploitation Internet Unit to target on-line predators
* 7 additional surveillance operatives are required to assist in targeting and monitoring
Note: the above figures are statewide (NSW) figures, unless otherwise stated. Local figures are not available for release.