Sex offenders must stay 1,000 feet away
Cassandra Crull has been campaigning for stricter state laws governing day care centers for more than three years.
The Marysville woman says a piece of legislation just passed by the state Senate advances her cause, but might not go far enough.
The legislation passed Wednesday by the Senate would prohibit registered sex offenders from loitering within 1,000 feet of a day care center.
Senate Bill 76 resembles restrictions that currently prevent registered sex offenders from loitering within school safety zones.
The law makes exceptions for parents that are sex offenders, but need to drop off a child at day care, or meet with child care staff, said state Sen. Darwin Booher, R-Evart.
Booher introduced the bill after receiving complaints from a constituent who was concerned about sex offenders loitering in the area around a day care center.
“At that time, I thought it was covered under the law as it was,” Booher said.
He first introduced the legislation about two years ago.
“Through those two years, we could not get it passed,” he said. “... The biggest issue we had was to define what loitering was.”
Booher said eventually loitering was defined as remaining for a period of time, and under circumstances a reasonable person would define as to observe or contact minors.
The legislation passed out of the Senate 37-0. It now moves to the House and, if passed, the legislation will take effect Feb. 1, 2014.
Crull has been campaigning for stricter rules governing day care centers since 2009, when she discovered people serving as supervised volunteers within day care centers were not required to undergo a background check.
Crull believes the loophole allows registered sex offenders to volunteer at day care centers.
“They’re not really protecting the children if they’re allowing this to happen,” Crull said. “Parents need to be aware of this.”
Crull was not certain whether the new legislation would apply to only loiterers, or supervised volunteers as well.
“I think (the legislation) will definitely put pressure on them, but I don’t think it will close the loophole though all the way,” she said.
Dave Akerly, a spokesperson for Department of Human Services, confirmed supervised volunteers are not required to pass background checks.
Akerly said the process and cost of doing a background check for every supervised volunteer might decrease family participation.
“Especially with certain Head Start programs, we want that parental component,” Akerly said. “We want family involvement.”
While DHS has handled issues with day care centers in the past, Akerly said “by and large, what we have found is that the volunteers have not been the core of the problem.”
Debby Pung, owner of A Child’s World day care center in Clyde Township, said she typically doesn’t use volunteers.
“I wouldn’t run my business like that,” Pung said. “I would have a background check done on anyone who’s watching kids at the daycare.”
Karla Richert, owner of 1 2 3 Day Care in Kimball Township, rarely uses volunteers, but she said Booher’s legislation seemed common sense.
“You see someone hanging around, whether they’re a sex offender or not, you’re going to question it,” Richert said.
She had questions about the legislation though.
“We’ve got a couple (of sex offenders) on our street that I’m not thrilled about so, yeah, the further away the better,” Richert said.
“What is it going do to people living down the street?”
Unlike laws related to school safety zones, the legislation pertaining to day care centers would not include a prohibition of living — meaning a sex offender could live within 1,000 feet of a day care center.
Jennifer Jahn, owner of Kiddie Campus in Port Huron Township, said she had believed for some time that day care centers were included in legislation prohibiting sex offenders from school zones.
“Day care centers are just like a school, and the younger children are more vulnerable than elementary school or middle school,” she said. ..Source.. by Beth LeBlanc
Times Herald
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