Sep 30 – Sexual Offences Protection Orders In Gibraltar – Interview With Inspector Enriles
In certain criminal cases involving sexual offences in Gibraltar, the prosecution will apply for the defendant to be given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order or a SOPO.
YGTV caught up with Inspector Alex Enriles of the Royal Gibraltar Police, who leads the public protection team within the Crimes and Protective Services Division to talk us through the details of a SOPO and the purpose it serves.
YGTV: What is SOPO?
Insp. Enriles: SOPO is what we call a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and basically what it means is that it is a civil order which is applied for by the prosecution on behalf of the police or if the prosecution themselves think it is necessary.
It is an application that is made in court in order to place restrictions or conditions or prohibitions on a certain individual as a result of risky behaviour on his or her part.
SOPO is found under the Crimes Act, and came in with the new legislation back in 2012, and the purpose of the SOPO is not a form of punishment, but of management of an individual.
YGTV: How can SOPO be applied?
Insp. Enriles: It can be applied under a couple of avenues. First of all the person must have been convicted of an offence listed under Schedule 3 or 4 of the Crimes Act 2011, which are offences which are of a sexual nature or violence which has contained a sexual element in it.
Secondly, as a result of the behaviour post conviction, that the person’s behaviour is such that poses a risk to members of the public and the risk is that of serious sexual harm or psychological harm. It is necessary to impose these conditions on the person in order to ensure that the public is safe.
There is no set determined list of conditions, it really is tailor made to the individual and the circumstances of the case.
YGTV: How would SOPO work? Can you put it into context for me?
Insp. Enriles: So for example, if we have someone who has been convicted of an offence against a child or someone under the age of 16, and we feel that their behaviour at the time or their behaviour post conviction has been such that it could lead to risk. For example, the person committed the offences whilst in his residence or took a child to his residence, or entered the child’s residence, or took the child into a car to commit the offences, then we’d have to impose conditions based on evidence, and on the facts of the case. We could ask the Crown and they ask the courts to apply for the order to prohibit this person from having any unsupervised contact with a child under the age of 16.
You have to be specific, so the order could relate to the child that is involved in the case, or if the person’s predisposition is to females or males you have to specify it.
The person can only have contact with children if the parent or legal guardian is aware of the person’s conviction and that the SOPO is in place because we have to respect their human rights.
YGTV: What happens if someone is in breach of their SOPO?
Insp. Enriles: Breaching the SOPO has very serious consequences, the maximum penalty is five years imprisonment and the person would have to go through the court process again.
Even though the person might not have actually committed the sexual offence, the consequences for simply breaching the order can be very severe.
It is quite a powerful piece of legislation but it’s there to prevent a sexual offence from reoccurring.
It doesn’t just have to be against children under 16, if someone is a voyeur, they can be prohibited from entering certain areas or prohibited from possessing recording devices.
YGTV: How long does a SOPO last for?
Insp. Enriles: The SOPO will be enacted when the courts give an order. If it is opposed by the defence, then a hearing will be placed. Otherwise, it will be granted on the same day. A SOPO can be put in place even if the person is going to jail because it might prohibit them from making contact with someone by phone or letters.
The minimum a SOPO can be granted for is five years, and the maximum is life.
Assessments are carried out by officers called designated risk managers will carry out risk assessment and they will work out how long the person would need the SOPO to be in place.
The SOPO can be appealed by the defence if they feel like their client is no longer at risk of re-offending.
YGTV: How many people are under SOPO at the moment in Gibraltar?
Insp. Enriles: I cannot share that information, and any persons on the sex offenders register is confidential information and we cannot share that because of their human rights.
YGTV: What are the restrictions of SOPO?
Insp. Enriles: SOPO has to be prohibitive in nature so it cannot say, for example, you must do this or you must do that, it can only say you cannot do this or that.
There are no set restrictions; it is only whatever can be seen to protect the public from serious sexual or psychological harm. It could be anything from you’re not allowed to have contact with a child under the age of 16, to you’re prohibited from owning any recording equipment or you’re not allowed access to the internet unless your device is submitted for regular checks, or you might be prohibited from a certain shop.
There is no set SOPO, it is tailor-made to the person being convicted and to the offences they have been convicted of – each SOPO is different.
YGTV: So how do you keep checks on people? How do you make sure they’re abiding by their SOPO?
Insp. Enriles: That’s a part and parcel of a monitoring process which I cannot divulge, but it’s a multi-agency approach called the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements.
It was set up at the end of 2012, and it’s a forum where all agencies involved in public protections – social services, the RGP, Customs, the prison service. We carry out home visits and our work is to risk-assess and the risk to the public, and to make sure they’re abiding by the SOPO.
YGTV: How did SOPO come about in Gibraltar?
Insp. Enriles: SOPO came about as a result of the change of law when the Crimes Act was introduced. It mirrors the Sexual Offences Act 2003 from the United Kingdom, and incorporated into our Crimes Act.
YGTV: Are there any differences between a SOPO and being on a Sexual Offender Register?
Insp. Enriles: Not every person on the sex offender register has a SOPO. They might be on the register but we don’t feel like they lack control or that they need extra control to ensure the public is safe.
YGTV: Would names and addresses of convicted sex offenders be made public in Gibraltar?
Insp. Enriles: No. Due to their human rights, we cannot release their information. They have a right to a life and their privacy, but we have specific officers who work with them, and a multi-agency approach dealing with all these people on the sex offenders register. They are very much aware of the consequences of re-offending and we just ask the public to trust us. Our processes are very advanced and our level of training is very high, and it exceeds that of our counterparts in the UK.
YGTV: How are you and your team equipped to deal with SOPO and sexual offences?
Insp. Enriles: The public protection unit is split into two – one that takes people to court, and then the public protection unit that helps with managing risk. Our system mirrors the police force in Northern Ireland, because similarly to us, they share a land border with another country. They train us every year, and we are all trained to risk assess adult male and female sex offenders, juveniles and people with learning difficulties. Every person will have an appointed risk manager and we have a process where the agencies meet, risk assessments are discussed and information is gathered.
YGTV: What are the main challenges in this job and what level is there of re-offending?
Insp. Enriles: It is a challenging task, you have to get to know people in depth and make an analysis of them as person, and then building a rapport with them so that they can confide in you. Our predictions have a risk assessment of 76% of re-offending, which is quite high. During risk assessment, we can see that the risk is climbing and we can work with the person and the other agencies to help lower the risk. We need the person on our side, because they need to see this for themselves to be able to help themselves.
YGTV: Once you’ve been given a SOPO, and let’s say it’s for 10 years, does it stay on your permanent record?
Insp. Enriles: It follows the same rules as a criminal conviction and once it is spent it is spent.
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