Police chief cannot rule out convicted sex offenders receiving clean child certificates

Denmark’s national police chief, Lasse Boje, cannot rule out that people convicted of sexual offences against children may have mistakenly received clean certificates for working with children, DR reports. The possibility emerged after an error in the criminal register deleted information that could have been relevant to child certificates and firearms permits.

“No, I cannot, if it concerns an older conviction. And that is precisely the problem,” Boje said when asked whether he could guarantee that no one convicted of paedophilia had received such a certificate.

The police have described the issue as a deletion error. Older convictions for serious or particularly serious crimes that should have remained in the register were removed. The convictions could also have affected applications for firearms permits or Danish citizenship.

Boje said the error was probably limited in most cases, but stressed that the fact that police cannot rule out mistakes was itself a problem. The exact cause of the deletions is not yet known and will now be investigated in detail.

Issuing child certificates and firearms permits has been suspended for now. Around 1,000 child certificates are issued each day.

The police said in a press release that the criminal register contains an accurate record of decisions for at least a 10 year period from 2021. Information deleted too early is believed to have been limited to decisions made before 2011.

A child certificate contains information about convictions, fines and other penalties for violating provisions on sexual offences against children under 15 and child pornography. Authorities and associations must obtain such certificates for people who will work as coaches, instructors, team leaders, educators or teachers for children under 15.

Justice Minister Nicolai Wammen said he viewed the situation very seriously but urged people to remain calm while the authorities establish the consequences.

“In general, I think people can feel secure about the employees in institutions,” Wammen said. He added that police had been asked to investigate whether people with relevant convictions were working with children despite having received clean certificates, and to correct any errors found.