Legal bid to know sex offender numbers

Published on Friday 10 April 2009 22:13

THREE housing associations have launched a legal bid to discover the number of sex offenders living in their communities.

The associations fear that poorer areas are being burdened with a disproportionate number of registered sex offenders.

A request to Strathclyde Police for the information was rejected. And, following an investigation, Scotland's Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion ruled that the force had dealt with the request in accordance with freedom of information laws.

Mr Dunion said that the disclosure of the information could identify sex offenders which would breach the "first data protection principle".

The housing associations – Blochairn and Craigdale in Glasgow and Dunbritton in Dumbarton – were given 42 days to appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law and they have now lodged an appeal.

Michael Carberry, director of Blochairn Housing Co-operative,

said: "We are not about stirring up vigilantism. We expressly do not want names and addresses or to be able to identify any individual. We are looking for statistical evidence that can inform a proper, rational debate.

"We hope that our position will be recognised at the Court of Session."

The requests by the housing associations for registered sex offender (RSO) numbers living in various postcodes date back to 2007.

In its response Strathclyde Police said that even speculation about the number of RSOs within a large geographic area leads to attempts to identify the individual offenders.

The consequence of this would be the offender possibly fleeing from the area, breaching the terms of their registration and supervision, police said.

It was also likely that individuals may attempt to physically harm the offender, or individuals wrongly suspected of being the offender, or hound them from the area, the force stated.