Registered Sex Offenders (1642A/22)
Request
Please could you provide the following information regarding Registered Sex Offenders in your police force area:
1) How many registered sex offenders are currently classed as ‘missing’ due to a lack of an up-to-date address?
2) How many registered sex offenders have notified police that they are living abroad?
3) As per question 2 – how many of these registered sex offenders have notified police that they are living in The Gambia?
Response
Q1 & Q2 – Our main priority is to protect the most vulnerable from harm. There are 4,617 registered sex offenders within our region of which the whereabouts of 51 are currently unknown. This includes those who have not registered as part of their requirement under the Sexual Offences Act, and represents a small percentage of those we robustly manage on a daily basis along with our partner agencies.
We have detectives who specialise in monitoring sex offenders who work with our partners to actively locate these people. Our intelligence suggests 301 offenders currently reside outside of the UK.
As a matter of course, details of all missing registered sex offenders are circulated on the Police National Computer and to all forces and law enforcement agencies. Our approach to finding these people is assessed on a case by case basis so we can maximise, rather than compromise, our opportunities to find and arrest them.
Q3 – West Midlands Police will neither confirm nor deny that we hold any of the requested information as the following exemptions apply:
Section 27(4) – International relations
Section 31(3) – Law enforcement
These exemptions and explanatory notes are shown here:
In line with the exemptions above, I am required to complete a Prejudice Test/Public Interest Test (PIT) on disclosure. Please find this PIT attached (1642A_22_PIT.pdf).
No inference can be taken from this refusal that the information you have requested does or does not exist.