By Mamacita - 3 Dec 20 11:38 AM
I am a qualified nurse who was visited by the PPO and given a disclosure about my partners offences, which he has served his sentence for. This is a very complex situation as I have all the legal documents which state that my partner is a low risk to the community and has a low risk of reoffending, but is a medium risk to children. I dont have any children under 18. The PPO have basically threatened to inform my employer if I carry on in a relationship with him. My question is that this is my private life. I'm not a risk or an offender. Can the PPO inform my employer? My partner is not my patient. Im absolutely devastated by the intrusion.
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By Zack - 9 Dec 20 6:53 AM
+xIf they intend to disclose to someone, the police have to demonstrate that there is a risk of harm and say who is at risk. If they can establish that there is an under 18 somewhere, then they will argue that child is at risk, simply by them being a child. Since some offenders do abuse kids who are the children of friends, then arguably any friend, or anyone you have any contact with at all, who has kids, is at risk. Of course the police would also want to look at what access you have to the friend's kids. Do you ever visit the friend's house for example, or is just a friend that you meet at the local pub for a drink occasionally. How far the police would go, in practice, to establish this depends on what the police already know about you and what they can find out. If they have already seized your mobile, then they could go through and identify all your contacts, then check to see if they had kids or not. But rather than take the time to do that they will most probably ask you first to provide details of your friends. If you then choose not to disclose those details, which is your right, then the police would have to decide whether the risk you pose justifies further investigation. In an extreme case, if they thought your risk was really high, they could place you under covert surveillance, to see where you go and who you mix with. We've seen some people on this forum talk about being followed around by the police, so it does happen. So knowing that the police have this power, you have to make a judgement call yourself. Do I tell the police about my friends and hope they don't disclose to those friends or do I keep the friends details to myself and hope the police don't find out about them.
Generally the last thing a PPO wants to do is to start telling everyone about the offender, it makes their job harder if lots of people in a community know the details. They generally want an easy life. As for an employer, even if he was told, your employer would have to tread carefully, they have a duty of care to you and they have to legally respect data protection - they can't without good reason start telling colleagues or patients. I'd imagine they would have to do a risk assessment, unless you have patients come to your home, or keep records at home I can't see how it is at all relevant what your partner has done. If I was you, I would speak to the PPU directly and ask why he wants your employer to know, and see if he is misunderstanding things on how your work and personal life interact. It may just be that he wants reassurance that patients do not come to your home, a you do not share patients records with your partner. And that you agree to ensure that never happens.
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