Police Admit They Can’t Keep Track of Australia’s 17,000 Convicted Pedophiles
Fraction of the worst offenders is monitored by police due to diminishing resources
© press
Australian authorities have admitted there is not enough police to keep track of the 17,000 convicted pedophiles in the country, according to reports.
A lot of the registered sex offenders in the country are right under the noses of unsuspecting parents as they are located near daycare centers, schools, public parks, and swimming pools.
But only a fraction of the worst offenders is monitored by police due to diminishing resources.
Just one officer is responsible for motoring 100 convicted child sex offenders in parts of New South Wales.
© press
[RELATED] Mom Catches Pedophile Trying to Rape Child, Blows His Head Off With Shotgun
Due to the problem with keeping track of pedophiles, many slips through the net and have to be tracked down.
Like the case of serial Sydney pedophile Dean Angus Bell, many offenders commit crimes just hours after being released from prison.
As the increasing number of pedophiles out on parole reach a breaking point, there are now calls for a public register, with one mayor even declared his council a 'pedophile-free zone.'
The NSW Police Union have issued an urgent plea for additional officers to keep track of the states 4,000 registered pedophiles.
The is often only one officer for every 100 cases, according to president Tony King.
'The child protection register is our way of keeping an eye on these grubs, to prevent reoffending, and to protect our kids,' he said.
© press
'The officers who do this work day in and day out are stretched to capacity... we simply don't have enough police to do the job.'
King said police only had the means to monitor 67 convicted pedophiles a month, while the remaining 201 are not known.
There are 62 whose DNA has never been added to a database, which could be sued to match unidentified DNA samples in 80 cold cases.
Police sources told Daily Mail Australia that pedophiles were taking advantage of thin police resources in regional NSW by moving out of Sydney to places like the Central Coast or inland towns.
Electronic monitoring, usually with an ankle bracelet, helps keep track of offenders but is only reserved for the worst ones - who still frequently escape.
While NSW is moderately forthcoming with its data, most states refuse to divulge any information about how many pedophiles are on their registers or where they live.
However, the numbers sometimes leak to the public or are published in government press releases.
Australia's largest pedophile hotspot is Western Australia, which has more than 3,500 on its register for a population of less than 2.7 million.
The state's monitoring shortfalls were highlighted last year when a man was able to molest two boys after being jailed for raping his stepson.
Premier Mark McGowan revealed the system 'failed' and required significant improvement to adequately monitor dangerous pedophiles.
WA's enormous list compared with 4,000 people in Victoria, which has a population of 6.36 million, and about 3,500 in Queensland.
There are 379 on the Northern Territory's register and about 300 on Tasmania's.
Queensland was in 2016 strictly monitoring 94 of its serious offenders, 67 living in Brisbane and 17 in Townsville, which only has a population of 190,000.
Hundreds are said to be living on the Sunshine Coast, including 70 in Palmwoods-Woombye where Daniel Morcombe, 13, was raped and murdered in 2003.
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton in January suggested the state lists be combined into a semi-public national register.
Pedophiles' names, dates of birth, photos, crimes, and a general location such as their postcode would be included.
