NJ- COUNCILMAN HOWELL ON SEX OFFENDER: "I DON'T CARE IF WE STOMP ON HIS CIVIL LIBERTIES"

3-28-2008 New Jersey:

Earlier this month, a letter was sent home with students in the Ramtown section of town alerting parents of a registered sex offender living on Arlyn Drive.

The Township Council now wants to know if even more can be done to help spread the word about sexual predators living within the town's borders.

"He had been arrested three different times now for child endangerment," said Councilman Mike Howell. "(The flier) had a picture of the guy, his car description and his license plate."

There are three schools serving the Ramtown area: Ramtown Elementary School, Greenville School and Middle School South, all on Ramtown-Greenville Road.

The councilman asked if the town has the authority to institute a wide-scale notification initiative alerting township residents of specific registered sex offenders. It's important for the entire town, as well as the immediate surrounding community to be aware of specific details regarding any individual living in the area, according to Howell.

"That way if somebody's at softball or baseball practice with their kid, and they see this car, they can call the police department and say, 'hey, this guy's not where he's supposed to be,'" said Howell. "Truly, I don't care if we stomp on his civil liberties. I truly don't."

Howell further recommended the town post a detailed description and recent photograph of any registered sex offenders on the township's municipal television station, Channel 77.

However, while on a personal level, Councilman Angela Dalton agrees wholeheartedly with Howell's strong anti-sex offender stance, as an attorney, she said there are legal obligations the town must still adhere to regardless of any personal emotions on the matter.

"I think we need to make sure that there is not any kind of violation of civil liberties that could cause us to incur liability to trouble," said Dalton. "I believe there are different grades (of sex offenders) so the public can go on the Web, where there is a Web site where you type in your address, and it will tell you who they are and give you their names and a picture."

Dalton encourages concerned residents to take the reins and seek out information via the Web, explaining that broadcasting blanket sex offender notification cannot legally be initiated under the jurisdiction of the municipality. Some of the more popular Webs ites for locating registered sex offenders near you home can found via the state police at www.state. nj.us/njsp/info/regsexoffend.html, or www. familywatchdog.us.

"Don't just take it for granted that you don't live near someone who's a danger to your children," said Dalton. "I do believe that for the same reasons that we can't link that Web site from our township Web site, we can't broadcast those people even though that information was already out there. It's about how to access it, and I don't think we can do that on TV."

With the sex offender's name, photo and personal description already included in the schools' letter sent home with the students, Howell questioned why the township couldn't just follow the schools' lead and utilize the same exact information to notify all of the town's residents.

However, notification from schools directly to its students and surrounding community members has different legal implications than a township-wide, municipally sponsored announcement, according to Township Attorney Ernest Bongiovanni.

"It (the schools' letter) wasn't coming from the township's official Web site or television station, which is a different form of media," said Bongiovanni.

Prior to becoming an attorney, Dalton worked as a law clerk where helped worked with various issues pertaining to the state's Megan's Law act and sex offender notification.

"The flier goes home to a group of students who live in a certain locality," she said. "It's my recollection that people who are within the immediate vicinity (of a registered sex offender) get actual letters from the police or schools. As you get further and further away from where this person is, you have less details and less ability to broadcast. I really don't think we can put it on TV." ..more.. by Keith Hagarty