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Victims should
be our first public safety consideration
By Rep. Kirk
Pearson
A recent event in our area
is a good reminder that public safety is not just about monitoring
dangerous criminals, but proactively protecting victims and potential
victims of crimes.
I was as shocked when I heard about the release of a homeless sex
offender in our community, who was instructed by community supervision
officials to live under the 88th Street Bridge, which crosses Highway 2.
The bridge is located less than five miles from the home of the
offender’s victim and near an elementary school. Not only is this more
common than we would like to believe, but a new law passed last year,
Senate Bill 6157, is adding to the erosion of our corrections system’s
integrity.
In this case, corrections officials outfitted the sex offender with an
electronic monitoring device, or global positioning system (GPS), but
the system was set up as “passive.” That means the police only
discovered the offender had removed the GPS device when they reviewed
his activity report about a day later.
I have consistently believed the Legislature can and must do better when
it comes to tracking and monitoring sex offenders, particularly those
who don’t want us to know where they live. This year, I and many fellow
lawmakers sponsored legislation that would have required Level 3 sex
offenders, considered the most dangerous, and homeless sex offenders to
be outfitted with a real-time GPS device. Had this bill passed, the
police would have been notified the instant the sex offender removed the
GPS device and alerted them to take immediate action.
Another serious consequence in this case was created by the “fair share
provision” in Senate Bill 6157. Despite strong opposition from victims’
advocates and others, Senate Bill 6157 requires sex offenders to be
released back into the communities of their original crime. Victims’
groups were rightfully concerned that sex offenders would be placed in
communities where their victims live. It’s this provision in the law
that led to the sex offender living under a bridge in our community.
This incident illustrates why I have advocated for a comprehensive
overhaul of Washington’s public safety laws. When the agency we trust to
manage the public’s safety is advising a sex offender to live under a
bridge near his victim and a school, it’s time to redesign state
policies to prioritize, first and foremost, victims of crimes. State
leadership must act now – bold and innovative decisions on strict
policies must be made to protect our families.
It’s not enough for the State Department of Corrections to simply tell
families state laws and the agency’s internal policies will protect them
from dangerous criminals. We need an action plan, like the one I
supported last session and will support again next year. I am also
working to fix the many problems created by Senate Bill 6157. We must
ensure our public safety laws make protecting victims a top priority.
Legislation I am proposing for the 2009 legislative session would:
-
Prohibit a sex
offender from being released into a county where his/her victim
lives;
-
Require the victim be
notified as soon as possible when the sex offender is released from
any confinement;
-
Require all sex
offenders who register as homeless to wear a real-time GPS
monitoring device with clear protocols for monitoring;
-
Require a one-year
mandatory prison sentence for sex offenders who disable or remove a
GPS monitoring device on their first offense;
-
Require a 180-day
mandatory jail sentence for sex offenders who attempt to disable or
remove a GPS monitoring device on their first offense, and a
one-year mandatory prison sentence for their second offense; and,
-
Require the victim be
notified as soon as it is discovered a sex offender has removed or
disabled his/her GPS monitoring device.
It’s critical that we
tighten our public safety laws to protect families and victims before
felons. Currently, there are almost 1,400 sex offenders the state cannot
find, which is evidence of the need for a thoughtful debate on what has
been done and what steps should be taken to update our laws. It’s time
to change these errant policies and make sure sex predators understand
they must follow the rules or suffer the consequences. I believe we can
and must do better to protect the citizens of this state.
Rep. Kirk Pearson lives in Monroe and serves the 39th District. He is
the Republican leader on the House of Representatives Public Safety and
Emergency Preparedness Committee.
# # #
For more information, contact:
Bobbi Cussins, Public Information Officer:
(360) 786-7252
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