MA- Sex offender bylaw now includes loitering provision

10-19-2009 Massachusetts:

No loitering within 300 feet of town or state park for sex offenders convicted of child-related offense

If Town Meeting passes a bylaw restricting where Level 3 sex offenders may legally live in town, legislators will also be restricting where these felons may legally loiter.

The town’s contracted law firm, Kopelman & Paige, used a sex offender bylaw that has already been approved by the Attorney General’s office as a template for the one Plymouth’s Town Meeting will vote on late this month, Acting Town Manager Melissa Arrighi explained.

This bylaw includes a loitering restriction.

Selectman Butch Machado pushed for a sex offender bylaw preventing Level 3 sex offenders from living within 2,500, or half a mile, of any school, daycare center, elderly housing complex, park or recreation facility.

But, after hearing arguments against the efficacy of such a restriction, the Advisory and Finance Committee voted unanimously against it.

In the event the article was passed without their blessing, committee members voted to reduce the residency requirement to 1,500 feet. But that amendment would have to be made on Town Meeting floor.

Earlier in the same meeting, experts noted that restricting Level 3 sex offenders to such a serious degree would only lead to homeless offenders who will be more difficult for police to track. These experts also noted that a loitering restriction might prove more effective, since sex offenses are rarely committed in the offenders’ homes.

There are times when things said, simply make no sense. i.e., what does loitering near state parks have to do with offender's homes. That correlation makes no sense, but neither does a loitering restriction. I would ask, how many offenses resulted from loitering sex offenders near state parks, has there ever been one?

They conceded, however, that Plymouth could become a dumping ground for these convicted felons if surrounding towns adopt sex offender residency restrictions and Plymouth doesn’t.

Selectmen stuck to their guns on the issue, voting, 4-1, last month to recommend Town Meeting approve the proposed sex offender bylaw, in spite of the Advisory & Finance Committee’s position against the measure.

Since then, town counsel has added the loitering restriction, which reads: “It shall be unlawful for a sex offender who has been convicted of a sex offense involving a child to knowingly be present in any town or state park.” The restriction, if passed, would also prohibit these offenders from being within 300 feet of a town or state park. The added section on loitering does not, however, specifically address loitering in the vicinity of a school or daycare center and makes no mention of protections for the elderly.

Under the language of the proposed bylaw, police would be given the authority to enforce the loitering provisions, and violators would be slapped with a $300 non-criminal fine for every day they are in violation.

The residency restriction would not apply to Level 3 sex offenders who have reported their Plymouth residence prior to Oct. 26 of this year, or if the person is a minor or was a minor when he or she committed the offense and was not convicted as an adult. Other exceptions include those Level 3 sex offenders who register at a particular residence prior to a school, day care center, park or elderly housing facility being established and therefore creating a new prohibited area.

Talk about being convoluted this is unbelievable, how would it ever be enforced esp. with the exceptions?

Under the bylaw’s restrictions, Level 3 sex offenders who move to within a half mile of a school, day care center, park or elderly housing complex would have 30 days to move outside that radius.

The first offense would prompt a notification to the offender that he or she has 30 days to move. Subsequent offenses are enforceable by police and carry a $300 non-criminal fine for each offense.

Town Meeting convenes Oct. 26. ..Source.. by Emily Wilcox