900+ sex-offenders-disappear-from-police-radar

[Imnobody4]

Talk about a system as leaky as a sieve. Why do the authorities think they can just trust men like this.

news.sky.com/story/more-than-900-sex-offenders-disappear-from-police-radar-with-many-changing-their-names-and-not-telling-officers-12036341

Horrendous! Utterly incompetent, as loopholes go it's literally the most obvious one. What a disgrace.

That's appalling.

The woman who tells about it in the article is very brave.

It's so simple though isn't it? Don't let sex offenders change their names, block them from deed poll. They let Terry Price change his name 5 times? Once whilst IN prison? I'm mean is it really that hard to keep track of these dangerous men?

It's a really good article and so very important this is exposed. 913 from only 16 of the 43 police forces! Goodness knows how many there are out there then...

And it takes FOI requests and an external organisation asking questions.
Have signed their petition to parliament.

That is utterly wretched.

I can't find them - but I know FWR has several threads about tactics like this as well as applying to particular Police forces to have some items omitted from your enhanced DBS. Some police forces practically turn no-one down who applies.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3370916-influential-criminal-justice-charity-campaigning-for-removal-of-minor-gender-specific-offences-from-dbs-checks?pg=1

This is horrifying!

I've signed the petition as well.

twitter.com/TheSafeguarding/status/1287361838955601921

Signed and might write to mp

Really disturbing and it's shouldn't be difficult to close this loophole surely? I mean it's beyond obvious what the implications are.

This can't be true. I've been assured that men who have bad intentions also follow rules and regulations about identity. That's why small administrative changes to identity documents are no concern at all to women.

You can't seriously be telling me that sex offenders deliberately look for loopholes to evade scrutiny? That's a ludicrous suggestion.

The Times is carrying this article too (randomly I can read it on a tablet but can't find the article on my phone to link). Headline is Secret name change allow sex offenders to dodge the police.

Signed

Signed, thank you the Safeguarding Alliance, I cannot believe that there aren't people in power, in paid positions, who see this really rather bloody obvious loophole and take steps to close it. It's unbelievable levels of incompetence or something more sinister.

They just don't give a shit, Scrimpshaw, which breaks my heart, to be honest.

It would be a piss easy thing for the authorities to do, really...just regular bureaucracy, i'll wager.
But, fuck it...who cares??

Let's just accept the word of sex offenders - they won't break the law.

How can they not?! How can they not even see what a bloody horrendous MESS this will make, even if they don't care about people committing sex abuse? How can they not even see it's covering their own backs? They just look like such IDIOTS for not noticing this, I honestly cannot comprehend on any level, how something like this isn't flagged up and taken care of.

I wonder too about men changing their names to avoid paying child maintenance so as to help avoid the CSA, amongst other things. A DBS also is worthless really, as those with nothing to hide would declare any name changes whereas those who have, more than likely, won't

@ScrimpshawTheSecond

How can they not?! How can they not even see what a bloody horrendous MESS this will make, even if they don't care about people committing sex abuse? How can they not even see it's covering their own backs? They just look like such IDIOTS for not noticing this, I honestly cannot comprehend on any level, how something like this isn't flagged up and taken care of.

Exactly. It's perverse and it does my head in.

Bump

What’s the point in Sarah’s/Claire’s law if they just change their names?

Petition signed!

Why on earth is something as serious as deed poll allowed through a 15-min process using an online form?!?

I just got a new passport and it took weeks, involving strict photo requirements, a guarantor (I live overseas) who had to countersign my photos, all sorts of complicated forms and scanning ID documents and so on and so forth. Getting a US visa was even more complicated. Changing your name should require twice as much safeguarding. What is the thinking behind making this so quick and easy? It's something which a small percentage of people might do once and is not the kind of thing that people should be encouraged or expected to do multiple times, so why make it such a thought-free process?

Digressions, but I also don't understand why women in the UK are allowed to use husbands' names as aliases upon marriage with no procedural requirements at all. If Mary Smith wants to become Mary Jones upon marriage, well, fine, but she should be required to go through deed poll processes just like everyone else who wants to change their name, involving proper safeguarding and legal requirements to get all documents updated within a certain period of time.

I changed my name by statutory declaration, witnessed by a solicitor, years ago. It cost a fiver, and was a big part of going NC with my abusive family and making sure they couldn't find me.

I think my bank needed proof of my change of name. Some utilities wanted me to send proof of my name change, others just took my word for it over the phone or by email. It's scarily easy to do.

If I need to prove my ID I usually need to show my birth certificate and then my statutory declaration form; I don't have a passport.

Oddly enough, I've had contact with the police in the recent past as a victim of crime, and they called me by my birth name, --which was actually
really upsetting--.

Paedophile ex-mayor jailed for changing name to stand in local elections
www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/john-beirne-former-mayor-jailed-name-change-a4512731.html?