The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe warned the public against vigilantism, saying information about a person’s criminal history is not an invitation to presume they are guilty of alleged attacks.

He spoke to reporters on Friday after Sidney Cooper, a man convicted of 20 sex-related offences over nearly 20 years, was wrongfully accused last week of trying to abduct a 12-year-old.

People converged on the man’s residence with rocks, bottles and cutlasses.

Police initially said the real culprit was a tall, ball-headed, bright man. However, the police said on Friday that the abduction report was false.

A police press release urged parents to educate their children on the dangers of making false reports “as it can result in an innocent person being injured or killed”.

Last week’s incident renewed concerns some have about the spectacle of hosting a press conference warning the public about a sex offender’s release, as Mr Munroe did earlier this month concerning Cooper.

The national security minister said the notice is given “just to ensure that you know that if you see this person to exercise care”.

“It’s not an invitation to retaliate against anyone,” he added. “It’s not an invitation to do any of that. It’s in fact, counterproductive if you make an allegation against the wrong man.”

Mr Munroe defended his announcement about Cooper’s prison release.

“Being a criminal subjects yourself to harm,” he said. “You’re the person who can control that.

“But where you display from your criminal conduct, from your behaviour in the correctional institution, from what you say on your exit interview, from what you say when I speak to you that you pose a danger to the public, it is my duty to warn the public.

“If, for instance, you only pose a danger to people in your household, it will be my duty to notify the people in your household. The whole point of the sexual offender’s register is to protect the public, and that’s every member of the public.

“The whole thing I would hope people would get is you can avoid finding yourself in that position by avoiding committing sexual offences.”

Cooper is the second person about whom Mr Munroe held a press conference to warn the public.

The first man, Alden Scott, 55, was found dead on a track road in Yellow Elder Gardens less than a week after he was released from prison. He reportedly suffered from injuries to his body. Authorities claimed he died from natural causes.