They have to live somewhere…not in Des Moines - Posted by IA Jeff
Posted by IA Jeff on October 23, 2005 at 20:01:38:
The problem was just soved in the city of Des Moines.
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051011/NEWS05/510110371/1001/NEWS
D.M. pushes out sex offenders
The City Council says it’s reacting to a state law on that restricts where some sex offenders can live.
By JASON CLAYWORTH
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
October 11, 2005
The problem of where child molesters may live shifted from Des Moines to its suburbs Monday as capital city officials banned the sex offenders from virtually every area of the city. Suburban maps show many residential areas where they can live legally.
The Des Moines City Council on Monday approved an ordinance that adds parks, swimming pools, libraries and recreational trails to the state law that bans convicted pedophiles from living within 2,000 feet of schools and licensed child-care centers.
The ordinance essentially eliminated places for people to live in Des Moines if they have been convicted of a sex offense with a minor.
The vote could prompt roughly 300 child molesters to seek homes in areas such as West Des Moines, Ankeny, Clive and unincorporated Polk County, which are not covered by the city’s ordinance.
Nancy Foreman lives in the 7000 block of Rocklyn Circle in Urbandale, an area where child sex offenders may legally live. Foreman has two young grandchildren who occasionally visit her home. She wants her elected officials to create buffer zones in the entire city to protect her family, too.
“There are small children in this neighborhood, and I certainly wouldn’t appreciate having a sex offender across the street,” Foreman said.
Janet Loomis lives on Easter Lake Drive in Des Moines ? one of the few areas where sex offenders could legally live until the Des Moines council’s action on Monday.
“I don’t know where they’re going to live, but I guess they should have thought of that before they did what they did,” she said. “We don’t want them living by us.”
A representative with the Iowa League of Cities said he expects more cities to follow with similar blanket ordinances as residents realize that sex offenders can move to their neighborhoods. New maps prepared by police departments in Des Moines suburbs show pockets where child molesters could live.
Police departments are responding to a 2002 state law that went into effect last month after a three-year court battle. The law states that sex offenders whose victims were minors cannot live within 2,000 feet of a school or child-care center.
Des Moines leaders said the law had the effect of turning an area near Easter Lake, parts of downtown and an area commonly known as the Southeast Bottoms into “sex criminal districts,” because they were the only spots not covered by the state law.
Councilman Archie Brooks, who represents many of those neighborhoods, proposed an ordinance last month to add parks, swimming pools, libraries and recreational trails to the 2,000-foot restriction.
“I’m not going to have three areas punished,” Brooks said then, adding that sex offenders “might have to move to the suburbs.”
Despite unanimously approving the ordinance, Des Moines council members expressed reservations.
“The whole thing is crazy,” said Councilman Tom Vlassis. The state law does little to protect children, and the city is simply reacting to that law, he said.
“The sad thing is that an offender could stand on a sidewalk in front of a school and wave at the kiddies all day, and we can’t do anything about that,” Vlassis said. “You have to wonder what we’re doing.”
West Des Moines Mayor Gene Meyer, who also is head of the state Division of Criminal Investigation, said Monday that elected officials and police from his city have not yet discussed a local response to the sex offender residency law. Information posted by the city’s police department shows that child sex offenders may live near Jordan Creek Town Center and near other, heavily populated areas on the city’s south side.
“I think as the law has taken effect, the impact is being recognized,” Meyer said.
Des Moines police said they will begin to enforce the new city ordinance this month. The state law and city ordinance do not apply to molesters who have lived in the same residence since before 2002 or those who lived at an address before a school or child-care center opened nearby. Tom Bredeweg, executive director of the Iowa League of Cities, said his group has been contacted by about a dozen cities that plan to enact ordinances similar to Des Moines’. The interest could grow.
Garrison and the city of Ely have already approved similar ordinances. Bredeweg’s group does not support or oppose the ordinances, but he said he anticipates they will be challenged in court.
“I don’t know where this will end up,” Bredeweg said.
Des Moines Councilwoman Christine Hensley said the state’s law gave her city little choice but to enact the ordinance.
“I see this as a short-term solution for the citizens of Des Moines,” Hensley said. “This is an issue that needs to be revisited by the Legislature.”
The lawmaker who wrote the state’s offender residency bill said last month that he is open to revisit the legislation “if law enforcement comes back and says it’s unworkable.”
State Sen. Jerry Behn, a Boone Republican, said he had no particular distance in mind when he wrote the legislation. Instead, he simply copied the 2,000-foot boundary from a similar Alabama law.
“Typically, in the legislative process, things get whittled down,” Behn said. “In this particular case, it never was.”
Heck, I have never been accused of being normal or conventional, that is for sure. I definitely catch your drift.