Number of sex offenders in South Yorkshire nears the 1,000 mark

More than 1,110 violent and sexual offenders live in South Yorkshire, new figures have revealed.

Police and probation officers were monitoring 1,197 criminals on the region’s streets at the end of March, including 961 convicts on the sex offenders register.

Figures published in Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) showed that there were 232 violent offenders in the community and four classified as dangerous.

In the region 16 offenders were also sent back to prison between April 2010 and March 2011.

South Yorkshire chief probation officer Roz Brown said: “The MAPPA Annual Report offers an excellent opportunity to see how the most dangerous offenders are managed.”

“It highlights the efforts of staff to ensure that the protection of the public and reduction in re-offending is kept at the forefront of their work.”

“The track record of MAPPA in South Yorkshire is a good one, with the risks that exist being managed through effective collaboration between the key agencies, 24/7.”

“That said, there is clearly never any room for complacency. We do recognise that we cannot entirely eliminate risk but we are confident that we are successfully managing the risk in South Yorkshire.”

MAPPA teams in England and Wales are made up of police, probation, prison service and other relevant agencies working together to effectively manage risk to the public.

MAPPA is used to describe the arrangements set up locally to assess and manage offenders who pose a risk of serious harm. A risk management plan in implemented to protect the public.

There are three categories of MAPPA eligible offender, category one - registered sexual offenders, category two - violent offenders sentenced to imprisonment for 12 months or more and category three - offenders who do not qualify under categories one or two but who currently pose a risk of serious harm.