MA- Clock ticking for Lynn sex offender relocations

8-23-2009 Massachusetts:

LYNN - The clock is ticking for Level III sex offenders who live within 1,500 feet of a Lynn school, park, playground or daycare center as a new city ordinance approaches the day it officially becomes law.

The City Council on June 9 voted unanimously in favor of three ordinances aimed at regulating convicted sex offenders, including one that requires the most dangerous to live outside the prescribed radius.

Level III sex offenders currently living closer than 1,500 feet from any of those venues must relocate once the law takes effect on July 12. Failure to move can result in a fine of $300 with notification sent to the person's probation officer and subsequent criminal action.

An Item map of the city, with a 1,500-feet radius circled around every public, private and parochial school, leaves barely a handful of sex offender residences uncovered. However, the map does not include parks, playgyounds or the 248 registered daycare centers in the city, which presumably would further diminish the living-quarter options for Level III sex offenders.

Although the ordinance remains untested in Lynn, it is not precedent-setting because similar legislation is already on the books in at least five other communities, according to attorney James Lamanna, an assistant city solicitor.

Sebago, Maine officials in 2007 restricted the activities of convicted sex offenders, setting 2,500 feet as the distance from playgrounds, ballfields, parks, buildings and summer camps where children are present.
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In Weymouth last year, a similar law for Level III offenders was enacted, with a 1,500-foot radius measured from the house, apartment, condominium, motel, hotel or other residence inhabited by the sex offender. Like the Lynn ordinance, the Weymouth law included a "notice to move" provision so that once effective, all sex offenders living within 1,500 feet of the specified venues would be in violation.

The Weymouth police chief has contended notifiying the sex offenders regarding their illegal residences is a civil process rather than a police matter. A letter sent to each by certified mail should suffice, he said, clarifying that the notification and fines would be a civil matter, while violating the ordinance itself would become a criminal matter.

Methuen, too, passed an ordinance restricting sex offenders, using 1,000 feet as a radius from where children gather. Sex offenders living within that radius were notified they must relocate. Rockland and Pembroke also took action in 2007 by passing ordinances to curtail the activities of sex offenders and restricting where they can live.

In Marlborough, the mayor in 2006 vetoed a council vote that established a 2,500-foot radius for sex offenders from any place in the city that children might gather. The Marlborough mayor opined that the ordinance was likely illegal and unenforceable. The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also entered the fray, insisting that the ordinance, which allowed sex offenders who owned property within the 2,500-feet radius to stay in their homes, discriminated against poorer sex offenders.

Once the Lynn ordinance becomes effective next month, enforcement will be shared by the Police Department and the Law Department, said Lamanna, adding, "By statute, all sex offenders must register with the local police department, which has a master list of where everyone lives."

Lynn is currently home to 71 sex offenders classified in four levels - I, II, III and Sexually Violent Predator. Level III offenders are considered a public safety risk with a more than 95-percent chance of recidivism.

"To this point, no court has overturned one of these laws," said Lamanna, noting that the Nashua, N.H. ordinance is being challenged by those who claim it violates both the New Hampshire and U.S. Constitutions.

"The sex offender concept as a whole is an established set of laws. When the Lynn council first thought of enacting something like this years ago, the sex offender levels had just been established," he said. "Right now, the courts are concerned with the public safety. They see the Level III classification as forever and the (state Supreme Judicial Court) has OK'd it. So I'd say we're on solid ground. The court also agreed there must be some sort of reporting requirement, so I think Lynn's ordinance will withstand a legal challenge."

Lynn passed a law several years ago restricting where a methadone clinic could operate, making certain it was not near schools, parks or playgrounds. As a result, the clinic was established in an industrial neighborhood off the Lynnway.

Lynn councilors also tried to ban pit bull terriers from the city several years ago but a court overturned the law, ruling that it was breed specific - a problem since it is difficult to ascertain what percentage of the dog's lineage is actually pit bull.

Lamanna said some cities, Boston included, require pit bull owners to secure a bond, no matter the percentage of pit bull in the dog's pedigree.

The sex offender ordinances became part of the City Council's discussion and ultimately its vote after a local minister inquired whether convicted sex offenders could legally attend his group counseling sessions at the LifePoint Church on Baltimore Street in the Diamond District. ..Source.. by David Liscio / The Daily Item