IA- Clarity sought on sex offenders New rules may go unenforced until after an explanatory conference.

7-4-2009 Iowa:

Confusion clouds Iowa’s new restrictions on registered sex offenders just days before they take effect Wednesday.

The new rules include exclusionary zones limiting where registered sex offenders can go and alterations to Iowa’s 2,000-foot residency restriction, among other changes.

State officials have scheduled a conference to explain the rules to county law enforcement officers, but that won’t take place until July 6 and 7, about a week after the new law goes into effect.

“Essentially, we’re going to be going the whole first week of the new law not really knowing what we’re enforcing,” said Chief Deputy Jim Matthai, who handles the sex offender registry in Pottawattamie County.

That lack of understanding could lead to a lack of enforcement in general.

“I will not enforce much until after we have this (conference),” said Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope.

The law was signed by Gov. Chet Culver in late May. With little more than a month to prepare, state officials were in a time crunch, said Special Agent Joe Motsinger of the Division of Criminal Investigation.

“We’re working as hard as we can with the resources we have available,” said Motsinger.

While the intricacies of the law aren’t yet clear to county law enforcement officers, the basics involve new restrictions on registered sex offenders who have committed crimes against minor children.

Beginning Wednesday, anyone who falls into that category will be prohibited from entering a school, library or day care without written permission from authorities in those facilities.

Those same sex offenders also will be breaking the law if they loiter within 300 feet of any place children gather, such as swimming pools, playgrounds and public parks.

That doesn’t mean they can’t go to those places, said Motsinger, but they need to have a valid reason.

“A sex offender could take his kids to the park. That’s a legitimate reason to be there,” said Motsinger. “But if the sex offender is sitting on a picnic table by himself watching little kids on the merry-go-round, then he could be approached by law enforcement.”

The new rules give police a way to monitor sex offenders all the time, not just keep track of their addresses, said State Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield.

“We feel this is a tremendous tool for local law enforcement to watch these people,” said Baudler. “Watch them hang out and be able to charge them immediately if they don’t have prior written permission to be in certain locations where kids are.”

The new law also affects the 2,000-foot rule, which bars registered sex offenders who have committed crimes against children from living with 2,000 feet of a school or child care center.

The rule remains in place, but it will apply only to sex offenders who have been convicted of first-, second- or third-degree sexual abuse against a minor.

That will drop the number of sex offenders subject to the restriction from about 4,300 to about 1,250, said Ross Loder of the Department of Public Safety.

In Cass County, the number of sex offenders subject to the rule is expected to drop from about 20 to four, said Billie Taylor-McLaren, sex offender liaison for the county sheriff.

A similar residency restriction in Nebraska allows cities to enact laws barring sex offenders from living within 500 feet of a school or child care center, but it doesn’t impose a statewide restriction.

Baudler, who pushed for the changes in the Legislature, said limiting the 2,000-foot rule is the right thing to do.

“Quite frankly, the old law that we’re under right now did not work,” said Baudler. “It seemed tough at the time. It was not.” ..Source.. by Elizabeth Ahlin, WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER