NH- Group wants to restrict Rochester sex offenders' activities

8-3-2009 New Hampshire:

ROCHESTER — A group of concerned parents and teachers are researching possible sex offender ordinances to address their concern about the growing sex offender population in the city.

The group is trying to avoid an ordinance that restricts where sex offenders live, such as the one in neighboring Dover, because of the current legal issues such ordinances are facing.

Instead, they are looking at ordinances that restrict certain activities by sex offenders who are in the vicinity of children. For example, one possible ordinance would ban sex offenders from carrying cameras or recording equipment in areas where children congregate. Another one would prevent offenders from being in parked cars near children.

"If someone is reformed and behaves, they can live and do what they want but if they don't behave, we want the tools in place to punish them," said city resident John Glennon, one of the parents leading the charge.

Glennon and the group has started a petition and are hoping to get between 250-300 signatures to present to the city's Public Safety Committee at its Aug. 19 meeting. The petition currently has around 50 signatures.

Glennon said two things inspired this effort.

One was when a registered offender moved in to a home near the Rochester Child Care Center on Charles Street, where two of his children attend. In addition, Glennon has been tracking sexual offenders in the area through online registries and has noticed a significant increase in registered sex offenders moving to the city over the last few years.

So let me understand, ordinances can be used to control people if they act normal? Given that logic, then, if one is a blond we should confine them in a mental institution, right? As is normal, false beliefs and myths control people's minds.

"It looks like we're creating a haven in Rochester for offenders being forced out of their homes in other town because of ordinances," he said.

Dover's ordinance bans registered sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school or day-care center. It was adopted by the City Council in October 2005 and is currently facing a legal challenge from the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union, which claims it's unconstitutional.

The communities of Tilton, Franklin, Northfield and Boscawen have followed suit with similar ordinances.

Rochester Police Chief David Dubois said he's seen an increase in the sex offender population in the city but said he didn't know what to attribute that increase to.

Dubois said Codes and Ordinances would have to look into any proposed ordinances the residents propose but said he would also be interested in hearing what they had to say.

"It sounds like something certainly worth discussing," he said. "It's something we'd have to look at from an enforcement standpoint." ..Source.. by Aaron Sanborn