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New South Wales police will be allowed to hand over the details of convicted paedophiles if children are at-risk under new government policy. NSW Police Minister John Watkins today said the names, addresses, photos and criminal history of child sex offenders would be passed on as a last resort to those under threat. Mr Watkins said the NSW Child Protection Register was already used by police to monitor about 920 paedophiles who had served prison time. "The reality is, paedophilia is a high-risk recidivist offence," he said. "If police have fears a paedophile is about to re-offend, then certain people need and deserve to know." But he said the details could only be released if there was a high and identifiable threat to a known individual or group, and the information was reliable and accurate. Also to be considered was whether police could take any other action to prevent the potential harm. The information would also have to be relevant to the "role and function" of the person it was given to. Mr Watkins also said the system was not about full public disclosure, which encouraged vigilante activity and drove paedophiles into hiding. He said child protection laws had also been strengthened by new Child Protection Prohibition Orders (CPPOs), which banned known paedophiles from visiting certain places or people, or taking a certain job. Breaching a CPPO leads to a two-year prison sentence. Mr Watkins said later the rights of children should be put ahead those of child sex offenders. "If you balance the rights of a paedophile against child protection, we must always come down on the side of child protection," Mr Watkins told reporters. "These are quite extraordinary powers, but they are needed to protect children in this state." NSW Child Protection and Sex Crimes Squad Commander Kim McKay said there was a risk that in disclosing the information that paedophiles would become public targets. But, she said, those given the information would be told to handle it responsibly. "We're going to do is make sure the disclosure is targeted, that there is a risk assessment," she said. Detective Superintendent McKay said the policy was not alarmist, as not every sex offender on the Child Protection Register would be made known to the public. "It is just where there's been an identified risk ... a certain group of people will be told, she said. The Age 2-5-2004 |
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