Mayor-elect seeks solutions after region's latest sex abuse arrest.
Far North Mayor-elect John Carter has vowed to talk to police about the signs the community should be looking for to identify those who might do children harm.
He gave that undertaking after the arrest of a 65-year-old Far North man on six charges of indecently assaulting a female under the age of 12 and one of unlawful sexual connection. He made his first appearance before the Kaitaia District Court two weeks ago today, and was remanded in custody, without plea, to appear again tomorrow, when he is expected to apply for bail.
The accused does not have name suppression but his workplace does, which prevents his being publicly identified.
A spokesman for his employer said it was working closely with police to ensure that the interests of the children were safeguarded.
Mr Carter said last week that those who committed sexual offences against children did not think like other people, and were often very adept at concealing their behaviour. For all that, there had to be some indicators.
"I will be talking to police to establish whether there are things, patterns of behaviour, that we could and should be watching for," he said.
"I know there are lots of people doing stuff in schools already, aimed at teaching children how to keep themselves safe, but there have been too many instances in the Far North where those efforts have not been enough. Perhaps we need to enhance what's being done. I don't know, but I'm hoping the police will have some suggestions to make as to what we could and should be doing."
Mr Carter was referring to the arrest last year of former primary school teacher and deputy principal James Robertson Parker, who is currently serving a term of preventive detention, with a minimum non-parole period of seven years, on a raft of convictions arising from the abuse of boys, and the pending sentencing of Kaitaia man Daniel Luke Taylor, who, some 11 months after his arrest, recently admitted nine counts of abusing boys. He will be sentenced on November 14.
The man who was arrested two weeks ago was understood to have been vetted by police, although he was not a registered teacher, but had not been identified as potentially posing a risk to children. Parker was a registered teacher, while Taylor was a CYF-approved caregiver when he committed the offences that led to his arrest.
Social Development Minister Paula Bennett, who is leading the introduction of legislation that will see widescale police vetting and screening checks of adults who work with children, declined to comment last week regarding whether the correct vetting procedures had been followed in this latest case.
"I'm not at liberty to go into that sort of detail. We're yet to work our way through that process," she said.