The number of potentially dangerous offenders being monitored in the community has increased by 12%, Home Office figures show.
Anti-paedophile protests in 2000 led to the creation of the panels
The worst violent and sex offenders are tracked after their release from prison by specialist multi-agency public protection arrangements (MAPPA).
Police, probation and other agencies such as housing, health and social
services share information on the offenders in a bid to stop them committing more crimes.
The number of criminals they were keeping tabs on rose to 52,809 in 2003.
The figures showed that 45 of those being monitored committed a further crime during the year, 17 of which were paedophile crimes.
For example, surveillance showed that one paedophile was preparing to abduct a
He was then charged with intent to rape a child and jailed for 13 years.
The worst offenders are monitored by multi-agency public
protection panels (MAPPPS), which were set up in part to head off vigilantism against paedophiles in the community.
Members of the public serve on eight of the 42 panels and there are plans to appoint more.
Home Office minister Paul Goggins said the number of offenders being monitored by MAPPA had been expected to increase because some offenders remain on the agencies' books for longer than a year.
And he praised the "significant difference" in protecting the public the coordination had made since it was set up in 2001.
REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS
Humberside 62 per 100,000 population
West Yorkshire 58
Thames Valley 26
England and Wales average 40
"As a direct result there is now greater consistency and robustness in the
way these offenders are managed.
"As a society we have to face up to the fact that there are dangerous
offenders in all our communities and manage the risks they pose."
A total of 468 criminals were sent back to jail as a result of evidence gathered by the MAPPA.
They had not committed another crime but the step was taken because they threatened public safety.
Eithne Wallis, director general of the National Probation Service, said: "They were taken back to jail because they had breached a condition of their
licence, or in some cases were going to places that had started us to be on the
alert because it was an indication of them going back to their old ways.
"The 468 who were imprisoned again shows that we are nipping this in the
She went on:
second annual MAPPA reports show that the public has never been so well
protected from potentially dangerous offenders in the community."