MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5 March 2009

What about the “Unknown” Sex Offenders?

The actions of the Taranaki community in marching on the address of known paedophile Phillip Cooper are not the answer to keeping the children of the community safe.

CPS spokesperson Geoff Tookey says “Many communities dealing with known sex offenders in their midst have struggled with the concept of having such an obvious threat to their children living among them. We acknowledge that these issues bring up very strong emotions and clearly the South Taranaki community has a passion to keep their children safe. There are positive things the community can do which will have a much greater impact on the safety of the children in the community. CPS would like to support the Taranaki community to explore some of these options.”

The statistics around child sexual abuse show that ‘one in four’ girls and ‘one in seven’ boys will be the victim of some unwanted sexual behaviour during their childhood and adolescent years. This indicates that within our communities there are many sexual offenders who have not, and may never come to the attention of authorities and communities, including offenders that come from within the child’s family or are known to the family.

Offenders who have not yet been identified in many ways pose a greater risk as they go undetected and unmonitored in communities, leaving our children vulnerable. If the focus is solely on known offenders the reality is that the majority of sexual abuse of children is being ignored.

While it is the responsibility of the offenders to stop their abuse, CPS advocates the need for skills in adults to recognise signs and symptoms of potential abuse and respond appropriately to their suspicions. Mr Tookey adds “When a community is equipped with these skills, a safety net is created that assists in the early detection of abuse. This allows potential offenders to be brought into the open, and lessens the long term impact and harm on children. It is our community’s responsibility to ensure they have these skills and that networks are in place to protect all children.

It is timely that CPS is presenting at a community meeting on the 12th March in New Plymouth at the Community Development rooms of the NPDC. Moyna Fletcher and Janine Evans will be discussing with key people in the community, ways to keep children safe and also the training options CPS has available to support them in this. CPS will be bringing their well respected 5 Day Child Protection Studies Programme to New Plymouth at the end of March.

ENDS
www.cps.org.nz

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