State Member for Wallsend, Ms Sonia Hornery MP, will today move a Notice of Motion in NSW Parliament calling on the Government to increase the number of Child Protection Register Officers.
A severe lack of Police resources in the Child Protection Register team is leaving children at risk, with known child sex offenders going unmonitored for extended periods of time.
The number of Officers has fallen to dangerous levels and Police themselves are calling for more resources to be added to the force.
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.
Ms Hornery’s Notice of Motion notes that Police in this area are under resourced and calls on the Minister to work to monitor offenders more effectively.
Quotes attributable to Member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery
“Currently, the responsibility for monitoring people on the child protection register falls to local Police, who are already stretched to capacity.”
“The work is often undertaken on a part-time, ad-hoc basis, while Police are conducting other serious investigations.”
“There are more than 4000 offenders on the Child Protection Register across NSW, and more than 1000 in our region.”
“The Motion calls for additional dedicated Officers in our local Commands to ensure that Police can monitor those on the Child Protection Register properly.”
“Police have the powers to actively monitor and stop offenders targeting our children, but they just don’t have the resources to do it properly.”
“It’s time to resource our Police properly so we can keep our children safe.”