MO- Over 90% of sex offenders in Missouri can live near schools, day cares

In case you are wondering why one county is highlighted, a story will soon follow and it will be linked to this article:

7-6-2008 Missouri:

Four years after Missouri passed a law restricting where sex offenders can live, more than 90 percent of offenders in the state don’t have to obey the law.

There are two reasons fewer than 10 percent are restricted by buffer zones around schools and day cares: the original law didn’t affect out-of-state offenders who moved to Missouri, and the state Supreme Court ruled that the law could not be enforced retroactively.

Legislators took care of the first part this year. Gov. Matt Blunt last week signed a bill changing the law’s wording. But the other issue won’t be changed unless Missouri voters alter the constitution.

The reality frustrates law enforcement, those supposed to be enforcing the buffer zones. It also misleads residents who assumed Missouri kept all offenders from living within 1,000 feet of where children learn and play.

“People think we have buffer zones, but we really don’t,” said Sgt. Gary Kilgore of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. “It almost makes me feel like Missouri is becoming a safe haven for sex offenders. … But what are you going to do?”

Figures from the Missouri Highway Patrol showed that as of mid-June just 662 of the state’s 7,020 registered offenders were required to comply with the state’s residency restrictions, about 9 percent. In Jackson County, about 60 registered offenders out of about 1,000 have to obey them, or 6 percent.

Prosecutors and law enforcement officials said they’ve seen “case-by-case” examples of offenders who didn’t have to obey the buffer zones. But most had no clue that, statewide, thousands of offenders were free to live anywhere they want.

“Those numbers are certainly surprising to me,” said Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd, a proponent of residency restrictions. “It’s certainly good to keep that 9 percent away from these areas, but gives us no protection from the other 91 percent.”

The wording of the original law states offenders convicted of certain Missouri sex offenses couldn’t live within 1,000 feet of a school or day care. It didn’t mention anything about offenders convicted in other states.

More than one-third of offenders living in Missouri were convicted of their crimes in another state. The bill Blunt signed last week fixes that wording, but it won’t take effect until late August.

Other offenders are exempt because the state Supreme Court ruled in February that applying the residency restriction retroactively is unconstitutional. That means only offenders who committed their crimes after June 5, 2006 — that’s when the law was last amended — have to abide by the buffer zones.

More than 3,600 of the state’s 7,020 offenders committed their crimes before that date and don’t have to obey the residency restrictions.

“Make no mistake about it,” said Sen. Jason Crowell, who sponsored a resolution that failed in the House this year that would have allowed citizens to vote on a change in the constitution, “the Missouri Supreme Court completely gutted our efforts as legislators.”

Now, officers across the state “almost need a cheat sheet” to know which offender can’t live within the 1,000-feet perimeter, said Capt. Tim McGrail of the Missouri Highway Patrol, which oversees the state sex offender registry.

“We get calls from sheriff’s departments asking, ‘Does this meet it?’ ” McGrail said. “Or, ‘Hey, we got this, does it apply?’ … We tell them to verify it with their legal counsel.”

For several years, banning where sex offenders live has been the popular thing for states and cities to do. Missouri, one of at least 21 states with buffer zones, passed its original law in 2004.

Kansas legislators opted not to go with the zones, saying they had learned the nightmarish lessons from states like Iowa. There, officials lost track of hundreds of offenders because they stopped registering and became homeless.

Opponents say the zones are nothing but a false sense of security and do little to protect children because they only prohibit where an offender sleeps at night. Besides, they say, the zones can be so restrictive offenders can’t find anywhere to live and then are driven underground.

But proponents say they’re crucial in keeping offenders away from children, and they give parents some sense of peace.

“I believe if the buffer zones are applied properly, they have some value in protecting children from sex offenders,” Zahnd said.

He wasn’t aware, though, that the law’s wording didn’t include out-of-state offenders. Neither was the Platte County Sheriff’s Department.

“Most of our sex offenders don’t know that they are exempt,” Capt. Frank Hunter said. “Most of them believe, as we have believed, that they can’t live in the buffer zone.”

Even though the new law will soon include out-of-state offenders, the more than 2,700 current offenders who committed their crimes outside Missouri won’t be affected. Not unless they move from where they live once the law goes into effect Aug. 28.

“One of the good things about the law is it did specify the offenses that would qualify someone to be included in the buffer zone,” Zahnd said. “Unfortunately, until Senate Bill 714 (was) signed, the specificity of the laws is also a detriment.”

Until the law does change, agencies across the state will operate the way they’ve been operating.

In Greene County, in the southwest part of the state, the Sheriff’s Department has been well aware of the loophole. But it isn’t something the department advertised.

When offenders go to the department to register, they fill out a form that states they can’t live within 1,000 feet of a school.

“I don’t volunteer the information,” said Lisa Simmons, the department’s sex offender registrar. “They just assume when they sign that paper it applies to them.”

But in Jackson County, Sgt. Kilgore said he’s upfront. If asked, he tells offenders whether they are required to live outside the buffer zone.

A female sex offender recently wanted to know what the property boundaries were because she wanted to buy a house.

“I was compelled to tell her that the law at this point in time didn’t affect her,” Kilgore said. “She was surprised, but I did caution her that could change in the future.”

What isn’t expected to change anytime soon is the fact the law can’t be retroactive.

Law enforcement officials say they were counting on that issue going on the November ballot so citizens could decide.

“We’ve got to follow the law,” said McGrail. “If the Supreme Court tells us we can’t, we can’t.

“It’s up to the citizens. If they scream enough to their legislators, changes will occur.” ..News Source.. by LAURA BAUER, The Kansas City Star