Pending sex offender law would tax sheriff’s office

What is wrong with lawmaker thinking? How could seeing Sowell every 30 days have stopped him from further crimes, or Garrido? The frequency of "home visits" is not a detterent to committing crimes, registrants would simply say hello, yes I live here, and later on commit a crime if they are so driven. TRACKING is a waste of time and has NO PREVENTATIVE value. Study after study shows therapy, jobs and a stable environment reduces future crime!

12-5-2009 Ohio:

JEFFERSON — A pending state law that would require closer scrutiny of Ohio’s most-serious sex offenders would put a big crimp in local law enforcement, said Ashtabula County Sheriff William Johnson.

“They keep putting more work on us but giving us less money and less people,” he said.

At issue is Senate Bill 217, sponsored by State Sen. Nina Turner. The bill takes aim at Tier III sex offenders, the most-serious level.

The proposed measure would require more personal contact between sheriff’s deputies and offenders. For example, offenders would register their addresses every 30 days, and deputies must confirm that information every 90 days with face-to-face contact. Also, deputies must confirm an offender’s address, upon receiving first notice of that address.

The last big upgrade to Ohio’s sex-offenders law came last year to help the state comply with the federal Adam Walsh Act. A 2008 law now requires offenders to register their addresses every 90 days. If an offender moves, the sheriff’s department sends a notice to neighbors living within a 1,000-foot radius.

If the law is enacted, Johnson says the extra face time it requires with offenders could pull deputies away from patrol and administrative duties.

“Mathematically, it could put a real burden on us,” he said.

Of course, the department will comply with any law, Johnson said. However, the personal contact S.B. 217 requires could come at the expense of other duties, he said.

“We do the mandatory things first, and the extra services people have come to expect will be last,” Johnson said. “We have to follow the law.”

Ashtabula County has about 206 offenders in the county who need to keep the county apprised of their location, said Sheriff’s Lt. Terry Moisio Jr., jail administrator. Fifty of them are inmates at the Lake Erie Correctional Institution, he said.

The three tiers of offenders depend on the nature of the crime and the age of the victim, Moisio said.

Turner told Cleveland media the case of suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell prompted the bill. The bodies of 11 women have been found on property occupied by Sowell, a convicted sex offender. ..Source.. MARK TODD - Staff Writer