The sex offenders registry provided for in the Sexual Offences Amendment Bill of 2024, expected to be passed in the National Assembly shortly, will not be made public but will be accessible to members of the public through a formal application process, Human Services Minister Dr. Vindhya Persaud has revealed.
Speaking on the Starting Point programme, Minister Persaud explained that individuals with concerns about a person in their community would need to write to the Commissioner of Police to access information from the registry.
“Let’s say somebody turn up in your community, you have your suspicion and you’re feeling unsafe, you can write to ask. So, it’s not something that’s going to be public…but the public can access through a mechanism,” she said.
The proposed registry is extensive, containing more than 30 personal details about each offender. These include the offender’s name and all former names, date and place of birth, sex, nationality, main and secondary addresses, place of employment and national identification card number, as well as their physical description including height and weight.
The database will also record offences committed, their respective dates, convictions, penalties imposed, acquittals and pardons. Vehicle information — including licence plate numbers and descriptions of vehicles owned, operated or regularly used by the offender — will also be captured.
Additional details to be included are the names and ages of children residing in the same household as the offender, next of kin contact information, and details of any clubs, associations or organisations with child membership that the offender is affiliated with.
The registry will further contain fingerprints, a DNA profile compiled from samples taken from the offender, medical history including information on communicable diseases, photographs, IP addresses of devices regularly used by the offender and their email addresses.
