Officials weigh safety of public against offenders' rights

Politicians have whipped the public into a frenzy that everything a registrant does is viewed as a crime. This ought to be actionable with damages resulting. Maybe if a few such lawsuits happened it would quiet down this frenzy. Its time!

4-11-2012 Massachusetts:

MIDDLEBORO — A man in Middleboro often gives away toys by leaving them on his front lawn, near the mailbox.

Every time he does, residents flood the Middleboro Police Department with phone calls – that’s because the man is a registered sex offender.

But Middleboro Police Chief Bruce Gates has the same response for the callers – there is nothing he can do, because the man has committed no crime.

“That’s not an arrestable offense,” he said of the toys. “Is it ethically or morally proper? Absolutely not.”

Gate’s dilemma raises two questions: Does having the registry make the public safer or does it unfairly target sex offenders? Local law enforcement officials say the law – which requires sex offenders to register with the local police department – does protect people, but some residents are more ambivalent, and a defense lawyer said the rules can punish people who’ve already paid their debt to society.

Here we would love to see a list showing how the public is protected by knowing where registrants sleep for a few hours of the day/night. The registry is a farce, touted by Politicians and the Police (Job security is their goal).

“If someone does not register according to the statute, we’re very proactive in arresting them immediately,” Brockton Police Chief Emanuel Gomes said Thursday. “We work very quickly to track people down.”

Brockton displays photos of all Level 3 sex offenders – those deemed most likely to offend again – on the wall of the station’s lobby, “so people can protect themselves and protect their children,” Gomes said.

To learn about other offenders – those classified as Level 1 or 2 – residents must ask.

Other departments, such as Raynham, also have the photos posted, but many departments don’t display the photos, instead providing the information when asked, or referring people to the state sex offender registry website.

“We want the residents to know who these people are,” Gomes said.

Brockton, with 63 Level 3 offenders alone, has one detective assigned solely to tracking sex offenders in the city, police Lt. Paul Bonanca said.

“Knowledge is power. We feel as though the information being disseminated is certainly a public advantage,” Bonanca said.

But defense attorney Joseph Krowski Jr. said the sex offender registry is not fair to the people it lists, who have either already served their sentence or have been placed on probation.

“An aspect of that is rehabilitation and reintegrating (the offenders) into society,” Krowski said. “The registry program runs counter to that (goal) as presently constructed.”

Krowski said there is a “huge” problem with homeless offenders not being able to register.

Krowski also does not believe the registry makes people safer. Studies have shown that most sexual crimes committed to children are done by a family or household member or someone known to the family, he said, and “in that regard, the sexual offender registry has little or no impact.” ..Source.. by Maria Papadopoulos and Justin Graeber, Enterprise Staff Writers