A strongly worded resolution asking Albany to restrict where convicted sex offenders can live is the extent of the action the city can take on the issue, the Batavia City Council agreed last night.
The council, by unanimous consent, asked city staff to draft a resolution and bring it to the council's next conference meeting for discussion.
"To pass a law just to pass a law that we know won’t take effect, just seems like futile effort," Council President Marianne Clattenburg said.
City Attorney George Van Nest informed the council that state law preempts the council's ability to pass a local law restricting where Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders can live. He said such a law would not likely withstand a court challenge.
While state laws do not specifically spell out where sex offenders can live relative to schools, playgrounds, churches and daycare centers, state law does give the power to parole and probation divisions to set restrictions on sex offenders, on a case-by-case basis.
The council's inability to pass a local law was disappointing to Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian, who has been pushing for passage of such a law since she started receiving complaints about a Level 3 sex offender living in her ward. She said she was ready to take the chance that a local law would get challenged.
"It's for our children," she said.
Clattenburg read a column from the Albany Times-Union that listed a number of legislative attempts to pass bills that more specifically restricted where Level 2 and Level 3 sex offenders can live, but all of the bills failed to get Assembly or Senate support.
"The failure of the state to act on these things -- and obviously there’s been enough interest in that all these things have been proposed and not acted on -- really has left municipalities such as ours with our hands tied," Clattenburg said.
Councilman Bill Cox first proposed a resolution be sent to Albany, and Councilman Bob Bialkowski made the point that not all sex offenders are pedophiles. He said it's up to parents, friends and neighbors to be on the look out for unusual behavior.
He noted that it isn't always possible to know when a convicted criminal from another state is in Batavia.
“We have to watch for strange people where they shouldn’t be," Bialkowski said. "That’s the bottom line.”
Photos: Top, Van Nest, right with City Manager Jason Molino; Inset, Rose Mary Christian.
"Its for the
"Its for the children......."
Shut up, whenever the government wants to take more more of your freedom its always for the children.
Love that line. I'm
Love that line.
I'm conflicted with this. The Libertarian in me says the government shouldn't tell people where they can live...BUT
Now let me talk out of the other side of my mouth. I don't want these people by my kids either. I'm all about live and let live, and yes these people committed crimes and did jail time for them. That said, the nature of the crime is a little different and I think fitting for further restrictions.
Examples:
A person who commits murder is not allowed to purchase a gun again.
A person who committs vehicular manslaughter while driving drunk cannot recieve a license.
So in that light, some one that has sexually abused children should not be allowed to sit at their windows and watch them play, by being able to live next store.
My take on this is simple, don't touch kids that way and you won't have to worry about stuff like this. Maybe this is the parent of two small girls coming out of me, but I have no sympathy for people who do these types of things.
I have to agree that "not all
I have to agree that "not all sex offenders are pedophiles". Most people don't understand that part so when you say sex offender be prepared for a witch hunt! In any case since everyone convicted has to register for a "sex" crime then they are open to public scrutiny. I wouldn't feel comfortable having my children around strangers let alone serious criminals. I wonder how many people know about the non sex related criminals that live around them ?
What's missing from this
What's missing from this discussion is two key points: Recidivism rates among sex offenders are very low, especially while they remain in rehabilitation programs (the 25-year-rate jumps up quite a bit, and that may either be because they're no longer in a program or far removed from supervision, or sex offenders convicted 25 years ago were convicted under a different set of rules); second, most sex crimes are committed by first-time offenders against children of friends or relatives (most often).
The stranger picking up a kid in the park is horrifying and often shocking, but it's not the the norm for these kinds of offenses.
Bialkowski made a lot of sense when he talked about the need for parents and people in the community to be vigilant. That will do more to protect children than passing residency laws.
I believe this is a form of
I believe this is a form of profiling because many people that don't know me might come to this conclusion :
“We have to watch for strange people where they shouldn’t be," Bialkowski said. "That’s the bottom line.”
Welcome to the City of Batavia.
Funny you say that, Gabor.
Funny you say that, Gabor. You know how I like to get around in the community and take pictures.
I'd stop at parks more often to get pictures of kids playing -- I try to only approach kids being supervised by an adult and get permission -- but just the act of showing up in the park with a camera makes me wonder if somebody isn't dialing police right then and there.
These days, going to Austin Park as a guy alone with a lunch bag at noon might be considered suspicious activity.
These are things that make this a very difficult issue.
Posted by Howard Owens on
Posted by Howard Owens on April 27, 2010 - 12:37pm
These days, going to Austin Park as a guy alone with a lunch bag at noon might be considered suspicious activity.
Yeah, but just justified! ;-)
Thanks Howard you saw through
Thanks Howard you saw through my humor and my point. I know of a single male parent that was shagged off school grounds for taking pictures of his two sons playing baseball. Big scene till both kids vouched for him.
(I don't know how to "profile" that one but maybe it was white on white hate crime)(lol) ! The perplexed father, a long time Batavian and so his were children etc. I am sure careful anywhere I go alone with my camera. I guess if you go to Austin park without a brown bag you might look suspicious (lol).