Some sex offender ordinances raise doubts

8-12-2012 Texas:

Edinburg’s passage last week of an ordinance restricting the activities of registered sex offenders within city limits placed it among an ever-growing list of Texas municipalities taking similar steps in the name of public safety.

Small and mid-sized cities across the state have adopted ordinances that go beyond state-imposed rules to restrict areas where sex offenders can register to live, prohibit their presence around child-oriented facilities or force them to stay indoors on trick-or-treat night. But those ordinances also have been accused of providing families a false sense of security while vilifying some sex offenders on the state’s bloated registry who pose no serious threat to children.

Many of Edinburg’s 102 registered sex offenders live near schools, parks and other areas where children typically congregate. Edinburg Police Chief Rolando Castaneda told the City Council the ordinance limits their presence around those facilities “before it enhances into something bigger that might hurt one of our children.”

The city’s ordinance was also in response to public concern from residents who live near registered sex offenders, said Detective Arturo Montemayor, who leads the Edinburg Police Department’s sex offender registration unit. Although state law establishes a “child safety zone” for sex offenders — prohibiting them from being within 500 feet of children — there are no regulations once they complete probation and parole.

“We get a lot of calls from the community saying there’s a sex offender where I live, right across the street from a playground or school,” he said. “We have to tell them, ‘If he’s not on probation or parole, he can live where he wants.’”

Under Edinburg’s new ordinance, registered sex offenders are prohibited from remaining on the premises of school or child-oriented facilities after being asked to leave, returning to the site within seven days or establishing a continual pattern of loitering on streets and sidewalks outside the building. The ordinance allows exemptions for registered sex offenders who are at the school to pick up their own children, attend classes at the school or just pass by in a vehicle. ..continued.. by Jared Janes