MI- Offenders move after crackdown: Four Flint sex convicts leave areas near schools

5-13-2008 Michigan:

Four sex offenders identified in a Flint Journal article as possibly living too close to a "school safety zone" have moved from their homes following a state police crackdown.

Using information from the March 30 article, police investigated where 32 registered sex offenders were living and whether they violated state law by being within 1,000 feet of a school.

The four men, all Flint residents, were directed to move by state police Sgt. Jeff Bauermeister, the sex offender registry coordinator for Genesee County.

Other violators were moved based on about nine residents' tips that came in after the article was published, Bauermeister said.

Affected schools were notified, said Bauermeister, who wouldn't specify where the offenders lived.

A community service officer from the Burton Police Department applauded Bauermeister's efforts.

"I think it's great. Sex offenders running around schools are always a concern to parents and the community," Officer Steven Henry said. "It may have prevented problems. But the greatest thing, it gives people peace of mind."

The Michigan sex offender statute requires convicted offenders to live and work at least 1,000 feet - slightly less than two-tenths of a mile, or roughly three blocks - from a K-12 school, putting them outside a so-called "school safety zone."

For the Journal article, we used the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry to find addresses of all registered sex offenders in Genesee County. Mapping software showed the locations of all K-12 schools, public and private, in the county. We then measured the distance as the crow flies between offenders' homes and the closest schools, and made efforts to verify that the offenders lived at the addresses.

The list of 32 offenders in the article was pared down to a handful by several considerations, Bauermeister said.

Some were eliminated because their homes turned out to be slightly farther from a school than the limit, or they no longer lived at their registered address - a separate violation of law - or they moved into their homes before Jan. 1, 2006, when the school safety zone law took effect.

Bauermeister exempted other offenders, such as a young man who was convicted of fourth-degree sexual assault for having sex with his teenage girlfriend; a man who lives near a Flint school that is slated to close; a man on a tether who plans to move soon; and a man who lives 965 feet from a school but would have to navigate 1 1/2 miles around a freeway to reach the building.

"Sex offenders cause a great deal of concern, and it's immediate because it's in your neighborhood," Bauermeister said. "But most of these people want to be compliant (with the law). They want to maintain a low profile and move on with their lives.

"It's the exceptions we need to worry about."

Among the law's detractors is Ron Bretz, a criminal law professor at Cooley Law School in Lansing and a former public defender in the state appellate office for 20 years.

"It pleases the public, but it doesn't impact public safety," Bretz said. "Very, very few of the convicted sex offenders are predatory pedophiles. The idea of people jumping out of trees on your kids is really, really remote. The law is all just for show."

However, Bretz said he can't fault Bauermeister for enforcing the law and approves of how the sergeant investigated the 32 people identified in The Journal story.

"I am pleased that the police went to the trouble to whittle down the list," Bretz said. "They exercised discretion and tried to be selective about it."

Henry said he believes the law should be expanded to create a safety zone around school bus stops. He said he has received a complaint from a Burton parent whose children wait for the bus two doors away from a sex offender's home.

Bauermeister said it is challenging enough to track how close sex offenders live to a school. For one thing, addresses on the registry are not cross-referenced for proximity to schools, he said.

His office and local police departments rely on tips from the public to nab violators, he said.

"This is a community problem with a community solution. We need vigilant neighbors," Bauermeister said. "We keep what we are told in confidence and look at all the tips."

Tips can be sent to Bauermeister via ______ or reported to local police departments. The sergeant said it is important for tipsters to give police a way to contact them.

Armed with an address for a suspected safety zone violator, Bauermeister uses a pictometry software program showing aerial views of streets and buildings to measure precisely the distance between the offender's home and the school.

Violators are instructed by letter to leave their homes, with police follow-up to ensure they comply - a practical alternative to prosecuting them, the sergeant said. A first-time school safety zone violation can land an offender in jail for up to a year.

In addition to the crackdown on safety zone violators, Bauermeister recently led an annual random sweep on 295 county registered sex offenders' homes, checking for such violations as failing to file required paperwork or pay registry-related fees.

The sweep unit - comprising officers from police departments across the county - discovered that at least 40 of the offenders did not live at their registered addresses, a four-year felony offense, he said.

Bauermeister said he will devote part of the summer to tracking down the absconders.

The county's general compliance rate for sex offenders is about 80 percent, Bauermeister said - the average for a Michigan county. ..more.. by Sally York