New policy bars sex offenders from Navy housing

3-8-2009 National:

But guidance not yet given to installations

SAN DIEGO — Registered sex offenders are prohibited from living in base housing and barred from Navy Department facilities, according to an October memo from the Navy secretary. But five months after the order, the Navy has not yet put it in place.

The Marine Corps, meanwhile, already has begun screening all its base housing residents for registered sex offenders, who will be forced to move out as part of a massive servicewide crackdown.

On Oct. 7, Navy Secretary Donald Winter issued a far-reaching policy prohibiting convicted sex offenders from accessing Navy and Marine Corps installations, living in military or private-public venture housing, and enlisting or being commissioned into the Navy or Marine Corps.

“To the maximum extent permitted by law or otherwise waived by competent authority, sex offenders are to be identified and prohibited from access to [Navy Department] facilities,” Winter wrote in a memo to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead and Commandant Gen. James Conway.

So far, implementation of the policy is mixed, as officials sort out the details. The Navy has not yet issued specific guidance to its installations.

“We’re kind of standing by for further guidance on how to implement it,” said Doug Sayers, a Navy Region-Southwest spokesman. That guidance is expected to come from the Washington-based Navy Installations Command, which oversees naval installations and housing offices, he said.

Rachelle Logan, a NIC spokeswoman, said the issue is under review by the Navy Judge Advocate General’s Office and she could not respond to questions.

The Corps issued its follow-on policy in a memo signed Dec. 31 by its top installations official, said Capt. Amy Malugani, a Marine spokeswoman at the Pentagon.

Corps installations’ officials issued additional guidance Feb. 3 to housing offices and have asked base commanders to review and screen all housing residents by April 15 and report the results, along with the status of their local implementation of the policy, by April 22. More guidance is in the works, including policies for overseas housing and base access.

The Corps’ policy, signed by Maj. Gen. Edward Usher, requires that Marines applying for government or leased housing must complete sex offender disclosure forms for themselves and anyone who would reside with them. All housing residents would be screened, and any registered sex offenders living in base or public-private venture housing must move out.

Any waivers must be approved by Usher, deputy commandant for installations and logistics in Washington. Residents in bachelor’s quarters also are being screened.

“While it is possible that sex offenders may be identified in bachelor quarters, it is highly unlikely, and each such case is best handled by the identified sex offender’s chain of command,” officials wrote in the Feb. 3 guidance.

Winter’s policy follows a July 11 memo that allowed both services to bar registered sex offenders from accessing any Navy or Marine Corps installation. Winter’s directive leans on federal guidelines — the 101-page “National Guidelines for Sex Offender Registry and Notification,” also known as the Adam Walsh Act — the Justice Department issued in June, following the law enacted by Congress in 2006.

Installation commanders must rely on multiple sources of information to determine whether someone is a convicted registered sex offender. ..News Source.. by Gidget Fuentes