NY- Registered Level Two Sex Offender Installs Cameras on Home Exterior

If this man is supposed to remove these security devices as suggested in the article, should everyone else also be required to remove all types of home security devices? Alarms, cameras, fences, locks on doors, locks on wondows, etc. etc.

The man is a homeowner and has a right to protect same, especially since the government (state and federal) has failed in its job to protect him and his family. Constitutional rights do not end with a conviction of a crime.

One other thought, since we know that better than 95% of new sex crimes against chaildren are committed by someone known to the child, I wonder, are these parents equally worried about who else might be taking pics of their children, if they are?

Finally, I hope the media is willing to post the pics of anyone this fellow might catch, on his cameras, who are acting suspiciously in the vicinity of his home. Obviously, anyone acting suspiciously is going to attack thei fellows home, at least, using the logic of his neighbors.

5-30-2008 New York:

Residents on Bronson Street came home to find a flyer announcing that someone in their neighborhood had installed home security cameras on their home.

Cameras for security are not unheard of, but what happens when you don’t know what the owner is videotaping?

And what if the owner of the cameras is a sex offender?

That’s what residents of Bronson Street in the city of Watertown want to know when Joe Coffie, an admitted level two sex offender, and his fiance placed cameras on the exterior of their home.

Coffie says that he installed the cameras for safety and security only and not to spy on his neighbors.

He also claimed that there was drug activity on the street and he was within his legal rights to place the cameras on his home.

The Watertown Police say that he is within his rights and that their hands are tied.

However, there are families with children that live on Bronson Street and concerned residents want to know what Coffie is videotaping and if their children are at risk.

Michael Cooke, a concerned parent and resident, says something has to be done.

“If something doesn’t get done…something is going to happen to one of these kids. I’m might be my kids, it could be the ones across the street,” she said.

Joe Soluri said that he called the police before this incident to report Coffie’s activities, but was told nothing could be done.

“I told the police that he was videotaping kids in the yard and they said that was ok.”

Coffie says that he is not using the cameras to videotape children and he is registered as an offender for a mistake he made in 2003.

“A, I’m not taking down the cameras. B, if they are doing illegal stuff, the cops will know and C, I don’t give a damn what people think,” Coffie concluded.

Neighbors said they will continue to raise concerns about their children’s safety while Coffie said he will not remove the cameras as long as it is legal. ..News Source.. by Rachel Kent