Regional News
November 27, 2008 08:58 PM
Police don’t reveal all cases to community to better manage situation, chief says
Joe Fantauzzi
York Regional Police are keeping an eye on 260 sex offenders living in York Region, statistics discussed yesterday reveal.
The numbers were released as part of a presentation by members of the high-risk offender unit during a police services board meeting.
Of those offenders in York, 99 per cent are male and nearly 50 per cent of those are between the ages of 30 and 50, the numbers show. Twelve per cent of the offenders in York have been convicted of sexual interference against children and 58 per cent convicted of sexual assault, according to police.
High-risk offenders can be defined as those who could re-offend, committing crimes that include sex and violence, Det.-Sgt. Todd Sepkowski said.
Currently, there are two sex offender registries in Canada.
The Ontario Sex Offender Registry requires the mandatory registration of a convicted sex offender and that information is then usable by police and can be accessed 24/7, Det. Jim Killby said.
“At York (police), we use it more than as just an investigative tool,” he said.
“We use it to assist in investigations. We also use it to manage the offenders we are responsible for and we also provide information to our districts so they can then manage these offenders that are in their districts.”
However, under the National Sex Offender Registry, a judge would have to order someone convicted of a sex offence onto the list.
“I think we can see some issues that might arise from that situation,” Det. Killby said, noting that if the court order is not requested by the Crown attorney or if a judge decides the placement of the convict on the national registry is not necessary, the offender “will slip through the cracks”.
Unlike in the United States, access to the information on both of the sex offender registries is restricted to police officers.
There are 8,455 convicted sex offenders on the Ontario registry: 3 per cent of those people live in York Region, police said.
From time to time, a decision to notify the public about an offender will be made under the authority of the Police Services Act.
The final decision to do that rests with the police chief.
People think there are no offenders“The concern I always have is that people seem to think: ‘We live in a safe community because there are no sex offenders that we know of’,” Chief Armand La Barge said in an interview.
“Well, the reality is, there are. We obviously don’t notify the community of all sex offenders that are living in the community because we have to manage that issue in the community.”
Det. Killby designed the Offender Management Tracking System, a York police information database of offenders that is updated daily and provides information to other areas of the service about an offender’s identity, where he lives, what kind of offender he is and his dealings with the law enforcement community.
While police utilize a number of methods to keep tabs on offenders — including random and repeated visits — Det.-Sgt. Sepkowski acknowledged the unit faces challenges, including convicts who simply do not comply with their release conditions.
Trends indicate there are higher recidivism rates associated with those who have been previously convicted of sex crimes than those who have not, Chief La Barge said.
That said, there are steps you can take to safeguard your children and young people you know, according to Sgt. Christine Irvine-Leitch:
- Don’t allow Internet into a child’s bedroom, keep it in a central room
- Know what your child is doing online
- Teach your child to say you are busy if you are away and someone calls the house or comes to the door
- Read the correspondence that comes home with your child from school
- Listen to your children if they have concerns about someone and
- Report suspicious behaviour to police
“People need to be acutely aware of the fact that you’re likely to be assaulted, sexually assaulted, by someone you know,” Chief La Barge said.