Police Chief Ron Pagano comments: "There is also the issue of identifying pedophiles, who are not always registered sex offenders; just as not all sex offenders are pedophiles. You can't just go up to a person and ask if they are a sex offender." Unfortunately the general public has been brainwashed to believe that, ONLY former offenders will harm their children. So sayeth Public Officials and Lawmakers, no one recognizes that, 95% of New sex crimes are by FIRST TIME OFFENDERS and they come from the general public! The public simply does not want to live near a former sex offender, and these laws have nothing to do with safety of children.
11-24-2009 Florida:
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- If Dolores Maylone had her way, New Smyrna Beach's welcome mat would read: "No pedophiles allowed."
She recently came before the City Commission demanding it adopt an ordinance limiting where such sexual offenders can live, or even walk.
"If we make life difficult for them maybe they will move on before another child's life is ruined or another child dies," the New Smyrna Beach resident said.
Maylone voices concern that New Smyrna Beach trails other cities in enacting local rules tougher than state restrictions prohibiting sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of parks, recreation centers and around schools or any other place children might congregate.
Documents provided by the New Smyrna Beach Police Department indicate 10 cities in Volusia County have more restrictive conditions than the state. Nine of the 10, including Deltona, DeLand, Ormond Beach and Pierson, prohibit such offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school, park or playground. Oak Hill adopted a 1,500-foot limitation.
Enacting and enforcing such restrictions are two different things, New Smyrna Beach Police Chief Ron Pagano said, but that hasn't stopped him and the city attorney from complying with commission direction to research what it would take to create a workable ordinance.
"We are exploring all possibilities," Pagano said.
Currently, New Smyrna Beach police officers conduct monthly checks on offenders to ensure they are following the laws governing their residences and movements.
Pagano said, at best, violation of any new city laws would be a misdemeanor charge. In some cases, the law might be impossible to enforce, such as distance restrictions on unmarked places where children gather, including school bus stops.
"This is not simple," the chief said. A law can be well intended but not practical to enforce.
There is also the issue of identifying pedophiles, who are not always registered sex offenders; just as not all sex offenders are pedophiles.
"You can't just go up to a person and ask if they are a sex offender," the chief said.
Some experts question if the restrictions already in place even work.
Marti Harkness, a specialist in criminal justice issues for the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Governmental Accountability, said during a recent report before a state House panel that his research showed laws limiting where offenders live are not connected to new crimes they commit.
"The literature is not real solid," he said by phone from his Tallahassee office.
A better deterrent would be "loitering zones" that prevent offenders from hanging out in a particular area, or electronic monitoring, Harkness said. However, that tends to be expensive and has technical drawbacks.
Professor Jill Levenson of Lynn University in Boca Raton, who believes there is no correlation between recidivism and where a sex offender lives, developed one of the studies Harkness used for his presentation.
"If all you are concerned about is abuse, then you are barking up the wrong tree," she said.
She said most pedophiles build relationships of trust and familiarity with their victims, which current laws don't address with restrictions on where such offenders can sleep.
"The current (state) law does nothing to restrict pedophiles from going anywhere during the day, just where they live," Levenson said. However, she does believe loitering zones make sense. "They restrict their ability to hang around an area and develop a relationship with children."
Maylone's ire surfaced after the September arrest of a registered sexual predator who walked onto the campus of Chisholm Elementary School armed with a BB pistol, telling everyone he was an agent with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
School officials said Kareen W. McNeal, 28, New Smyrna Beach, had no court-ordered restrictions prohibiting him from being on campus and had permission from a student's mother to pick up her son.
McNeal received his predator designation after a 1999 conviction for kidnapping and sexual battery with a weapon of a juvenile in Miami-Dade County. Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show he was confined in the North Florida Reception Medical Center. He was released in May 2007.
"I am upset, appalled, shocked and frustrated," Maylone said.
However, school officials said as soon as they were aware of McNeal's status, they kept him under surveillance while he was on campus.
Maylone said allowing McNeal on the school grounds endangered the children, which she believes is inexcusable. Her solution would ban pedophiles permanently from such locations, no matter what the courts said.
"If that is stepping on people's rights, we have to do it," she said. "It is time we protect our children." ..Source.. MARK I. JOHNSON, Staff Writer
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