Paedophile placements bother PM

Prime Minister John Key admits he wouldn’t want a sex offender living next door to him but says their location after leaving prison will always be an issue unless they’re locked up forever.

The placement of convicted paedophiles has come under scrutiny of late, after the Corrections Department moved a child-sex offender from a Lower Hutt neighbourhood to the grounds of Christchurch Prison following a campaign by locals.

Residents in South Auckland’s Mangere suburb have also been pleading for a sex offender in their area to be moved elsewhere.

Key told media that officials were ‘‘quite careful’’ about where

"Unless we're going to say if you're ... convicted of a sex crime, you don't come out ever, we're always going to face this issue." Prime Minister John Key

they placed sex offenders after their release, but it was difficult to make everybody in a community happy.

‘‘One of the first challenges is everybody pretty much who goes to jail, with very few exceptions, is coming out. So the question is, where do they go, and no community’s ever going to say, ‘Put the person in my community’.’’

Depending on the severity of the offender’s crimes and the risk they presented, Corrections or police could apply for a range of supervision orders.

A public protection order (PPO), for the highest-risk offenders, meant they must live in a secure facility on prison grounds upon finishing their sentence.

However, Key said it was up to the courts whether such an order should be imposed. ‘‘In the case of the guy that was in Wellington, my understanding is that either [Corrections] or police did apply for [a PPO] ... and the courts turned it down.’’

He understood why the public wanted to know whether a sex offender was living near them, but said there were reasons why they were not always informed.

‘‘On the one hand, you’d say, ‘I’m entitled to know that this person is living in my community because I have young children or I’m concerned with my own safety’.

‘‘On the other side of the coin, as soon as you go out with a public information campaign ... you will terrify people.’’

When asked whether he would want a sex offender living next door to him, Key said: ‘‘In principle, no, but I sort of understand on the one hand that sometimes people make mistakes in life, do terrible things and do not repeat their offending.

‘‘Unless we’re going to say if you’re a sex offender and you’re convicted of a sex offence, you don’t come out ever, we’re always going to face this issue.’’