WA- Bremerton Neighbors Question Cluster of Sex Offenders

11-11-2009 Washington:

by Josh Farley

For Libby Parins, having eight sex offenders as neighbors has not only decreased the quality of life on the 900 block of Washington Avenue, it has hurt the value of her home.

She understands the need for housing ex-convicts like sex offenders once they’ve done their time. But she doesn’t get how so many can pile up in a home so close to her own.

Parins and about 40 of her neighbors and other residents came to Kitsap Community Resources’ Park Avenue offices Tuesday night to express to authorities their frustrations that someone on their block is renting to sex offenders.

Authorities from Bremerton Police and the Department of Corrections explained that they can monitor certain offenders while they’re on probation. They encouraged residents who see suspicious activity to call 911 so they could investigate it.

But ultimately, authorities told the crowd, that they don’t have the power to say where the offenders live, or with how many other offenders.

That came as a disappointment to Parins and others.

“I want to know my neighbors,” Parins said.

Such sex offender concentrations are common around the state, according to Washington Department of Corrections Secretary Eldon Veil. Veil prefers sex offenders to have homes, which provide stability and reduce the chance they’ll re-offend, rather than live on the streets.

He added that in such group settings, “they’ll snitch” on each other — because they don’t want to lose the housing — and such monitoring helps keep them from re-offendeing.

Bremerton Detective Sgt. Kevin Crane told the audience Tuesday night that the number of Level 3 sex offenders in Bremerton has doubled in just a few years, by 20. There are a total of 211 in Bremerton, 792 in Kitsap County and about 20,000 in the state.

Such offenders live in a city like Bremerton because they have access to buses, their community corrections officer, counseling and otherwise, Crane said.

“This is where all of the services are,” Crane said.

Department of Corrections officials pointed out that there are about 15 landlords in Kitsap County that will rent to sex offenders. Without them, many more would be homeless — and more likely to re-offend, they said.

Still, such pockets of offenders gives the area a bad name, some told authorities.

“This is a concentration that’s making us a sex offender neighborhood,” said resident David Farr, who added that he’s contacting lawmakers about the situation.

There’s also residents like Jessica Fox, who have to face such convicts on a daily basis while watching her children go to the school bus stop, which is not far from the house that is rented by the offenders.

Robbyn Myers, an area landlord, came to the meeting to tell residents to try and keep an open mind.

“These people want a second chance,” she said of sex offenders. “They’re trying to make things right.”

Andrew Oakley, Bremerton’s community resource officer, extended to audience members the idea they could start a block or neighborhood watch, which resonated with residents like Parins.

Jan Clayton-Bryant, who had just moved her family from Port Angeles to Bremerton three weeks ago, said she hasn’t gotten much sleep lately, worrying about her seven children and four grandchildren.

When she found out about the sex offenders on the 900 block, she said her first instinct was “to cut and run.”

She decided to stick it out, feeling empowered by having knowledge, and attend Tuesday night’s meeting.

“You can go into any neighborhood and there will be some sex offenders,” she said. “Better to have knowledge of them than not.” ..Source..