Scum cuddlers: police and the sex offenders’ register in England and Wales

Police in England and Wales have been given an increasingly important role in community offender management. In many ways removed from what might be regarded as ‘real’ police work, it has nonetheless become a standard way of working for large numbers of police officers. An aspect of this work has brought the police into much closer and lasting professional contact with sex offenders as a result of new responsibilities given them under the Sexual Offenders Act, 1997. This article will discuss the findings of a study with police offender managers (OMs) whose primary responsibility is to monitor and visit registered sex offenders (RSOs) in their homes. The findings suggest that there are a group of police officers who are at a distance from wider police culture and are under-resourced in what is perceived by many of their peers to be a Cinderella role, or indeed one that is not suitable for police officers.