Britain now has its own ‘Most Wanted’ list of child sex offenders who have failed to comply with notification requirements – although claims that it’s on a ‘nationwide scale’ are rather undermined by the fact that the site lists just five individuals, albeit from different parts of the country.
If you see someone you recognise (and well done if you do, given the poor image quality), you’re asked to phone Crimestoppers or the local police force in question… or there’s an email contact form which promises that ‘all information is submitted over a encrypted connection’. I’ll take their word for that, but I don’t immediately see any evidence of a secure connection.
How much use will this be? Well, being realistic, how many members of the public are going to drop by this website every now and again, on the off-chance they might see someone they recognise? And there’s no RSS feed to alert you to new ‘subjects’. I’m getting really depressed by the number of new government websites which don’t feature RSS from day one. Come on, guys – we can do better.