Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Sex offenders in Lanarkshire
New police figures show Lanarkshire has 537 registered sex offenders living in the community – the second highest in Scotland.
The latest data released by Police Scotland highlights the number of sex offenders living in each postcode area of the region – 176 of which are in custody.
Glasgow houses the most sex offenders with 718 in the community and 244 in custody as of October 31, 2021.
The highest number of sex offenders living in Lanarkshire are north of the county in Motherwell (ML1), where the number is 64.
East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire is second highest (G74 and G75) with 53 registered sex offenders.
Areas such as Wishaw (ML2) and Rutherglen (G73) also record high figures with 51 and 40 respectively.
Commenting on their aim to tackle sex offences across the country, Police Scotland say: “Protecting the public is a priority for Police Scotland. While we can never eliminate risk entirely, we want to reassure communities that all reasonable steps are being taken to protect them.
“We put in place measures to minimise the likelihood of further sexual re-offending by Registered Sex Offenders (RSOS) and would seek to re-assure people that sexual re-offending rates remain extremely low.
“RSOS are robustly managed by the police and our partners through the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), and subject to comprehensive risk assessment and risk management in the community.
“Police Scotland has units of dedicated officers specially trained for this task.”
To view the Scottish figures in full, you can visit the Police Scotland website.