Child sex sickos go unmonitored, dodging stretched police
MORE than 200 registered child sex offenders are missing in NSW and police have no idea where to find them. The news comes after US man Sean Price (centre) was jailed for luring a Sydney teen. Here is the scale of the problem, gripping the state.
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MORE than 200 registered child sex offenders are missing in NSW — and police have no idea where to find them.
Many of those who have slipped the net simply provided false addresses while others have moved without informing the authorities — something they are required to do to stay out of jail.
The shocking news comes with a further 1300 paedophiles and perverts due to be released from NSW jails in the next few years, and worried police say they do not have the resources to cope.
“Our children are at risk from these sexual predators. We know there are over 4000 offenders on the Child Protection Register, 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,” Police Association of NSW president Tony King said.
Worrying figures provided to The Daily Telegraph by the association show that only 67 of the 4000 or so registered child sex offenders in NSW were monitored or checked in one month this year.
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And the association also claims 80 cold cases linked to the depraved child sex offenders are not being investigated.
“The statistics around this are shocking. There are currently 201 offenders whose whereabouts is unknown, 80 child sexual abuse cold cases that police don’t have the resources to investigate properly, and 62 people on the list who haven’t had their DNA tested, meaning that they may well be linked to current crimes but we just don’t know,” Mr King said.
The errors are only uncovered when police officers make routine checks — something that Mr King said does not happen often enough.
He said more police are needed to ensure the safety of children, with a minimum of one officer specifically dedicated to monitoring every 30 offenders.
At the moment officers who deal with these perverts — as well as other duties — are sometimes having to monitor more than 100 offenders and they are already stretched to breaking point.
“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. We need 150 more police in our commands and districts just to manage the people currently registered,’’ Mr King said.
The Police Association has launched a major campaign in the build-up to the next state election calling on both parties to commit to an extra 2500 police over the next four years.
It says lack of numbers is affecting policing across the board, including squads such as child sex crimes.
“At present, detectives in these squads are stretched beyond capacity, dealing with the 9527 reports that require 4583 investigations every year,” Mr King 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.’’
Yesterday Police Minister Troy Grant said the state government had delivered consecutive record budgets for the police and added an extra 1000 officers to the NSW Police Force since 2011.
He said Police Commissioner Mick Fuller was drafting a detailed plan, in consultation with the Police Association, to determine the number of officers that NSW needs for the future.
“The Commissioner’s proposal will enable the government to make an informed decision on the police numbers required to meet future challenges and community needs,” Mr Grant said.
But Mr King said he was worried officers weren’t being allowed to use the full weight of the law on these predators due to a lack of resources.
“Reoffending rates for child sex offenders are incredibly high — almost 50 per cent. We need to be monitoring these people regularly and catching them before they ruin a child’s life. Afterwards is too late,” he said.
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“The legislation in this area is 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.
“We need more police to lock up the paedophiles, but every conviction means another person on the register, so we also need police in our commands and districts to monitor them in our communities. We’re talking about the most heinous of offenders, people who hurt our children.
“We can’t have these people walking around completely unmonitored, free to do whatever they please.”
JAIL FOR VILE TEEN GROOMER
DEPRAVED child predator who enticed a teenage Australian girl to fly to Los Angeles so he could sexually abuse her has been sentenced to 35 years jail.
Sean Price, 40, from Queens, New York, began communicating with the 16-year-old in 2016 on Facebook, and in their daily messages he openly discussed the girl’s young age and expressed his desire to have sex with her.
He initially discussed obtaining a fake passport for her so she could fly to the US without her parents’ knowledge, and talked about imitating her father to get her through airport security.
When the girl told him she did not need permission to fly internationally Price responded in a chat they would soon be laughing at her parents and asked: “So you coming to papa?”
In March last year he wired the girl more than $1230 to get a plane ticket, and a few weeks later the girl flew from Sydney to Los Angeles.
Perverted Price was waiting for her in LA and they drove across the US to New York.
He admitted they had sex during the cross-country trip and while in New York until a search involving NSW Police, Australian Federal Police and US authorities tracked the girl down four weeks later.
“Sean Price preyed upon the vulnerabilities of a young teenage girl, luring her across the world and away from her home for his own illicit purposes,” US Attorney Richard Donoghue said.