Community safety and the protection of some of South Australia’s most vulnerable citizens is set to take a major step forward with South Australians officially able to access information through the state’s public child sex offender register from February 16.

The scheme will see certain information about child sex offenders shared with applicants through SAPOL’s Digital Police Station.

Under the three-tiered disclosure scheme, parents and community members will be able to apply to view photographs of any dangerous child sex offenders living in their area, with parents or guardians also able to seek information about individuals who have regular unsupervised contact with their children.

The register operates under a three-tier disclosure scheme:

• The first tier - Wanted Child Sex Offenders, allows the public, without application, to view images and relevant details of registrable child sex offenders who are non-compliant with reporting obligations and whose whereabouts are unknown.
• The second tier - Local Search, allows eligible applicants to apply to see an image of any serious child sex offenders living within their local area, subject to verification and assessment by the Police Commissioner.
• The third tier - Disclosure Request, allows a parent or guardian to apply to check whether a person of concern, who has unsupervised contact with their child for three or more days a year, is a registered child sex offender.

Strict conditions apply to the use of information provided through the register and misuse of confidential information may result in penalties.