WI- Knowing the Pros and Tracking the Cons of Green Bay's Sex Offender Ordinance

6-2-2009 Wisconsin:

City leaders learned more about the pros and cons of the Green Bay sex offender ordinance Monday night, as some argue the ordinance should be reconsidered.

The ordinance prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools, day cares, and other places children gather, which effectively puts 93-percent of the city off-limits.

Two years after the ordinance's inception, Green Bay's Advisory Committee debated Monday how well the ordinance really works. The focus was on the Sex Offender Residence Board, a group of volunteers who approve or deny sex offenders' requests for exemptions to move within the city limits.

The debate followed a report card, of sorts, from the city attorney's office.

According to that office, 128 appeals have been heard since May, 2007. Eighteen were from offenders appealing more than once.

The result: 83 sex offenders -- about 65 percent -- were approved to move within the city.

"The heart of the matter is, are we doing enough due diligence with this board to make it effective?" city council member Celestine Jeffreys said.

The concerns reflect the workload of the all-volunteer board, a lack of guidelines, and dwindling resources from the city and police department.

"If you don't have the tools to do the job, you're set up for failure," city council member Jerry Wiezbiskie said.

Alder Wiezbiskie recently brought up the overall issue, sharing concerns mirrored by the state Department of Corrections that some sex offenders simply quit reporting where they live because of the city's ordinance.

But others argue the DOC only has its own interests in mind, since it's charged with placing offenders after their release from prison.

"They would want this ordinance to go away because it would make their lives a lot easier. I'm not interested in that," city council member John Vander Leest said.

What was agreed upon is that improvements can be made to the residence board.

But the big picture questions -- Is this board serving its purpose, and is the city putting enough resources and oversight into this subjective process? -- have yet to be answered. ..Source.. by Matt Smith