Sex Offenders

[Joan Roberts]

Ryan please take a half hour to check out the Cuyahoga Co. sex offenders listing. You can get a quick synopsis of their crimes, ,and itt bears out what people have been saying. In the overwhelming number of cases, including pedophilia, the attacker was known by the victim.

Instead of "posting pictures in homes", maybe we could post THIS, from the American Academy of Child and Family Psychiatry;

Parents can prevent or lessen the chance of sexual abuse by:

* Telling children that if someone tries to touch your body and do things that make you feel funny, say NO to that person and tell me right away
* Teaching children that respect does not mean blind obedience to adults and to authority, for example, don't tell children to, Always do everything the teacher or baby-sitter tells you to do
* Encouraging professional prevention programs in the local school system


I've said my piece on this, and I'll leave it there. I cannot , however, support any ordinance that may result in making predators more difficult for police to follow/

[Ryan Salo]

ok, i give, lets do nothing from the city level. Anything else we should do as citizens to give parents more confidence when a sex offender moves in next door? I don't know about you, but I would much rather have a family of 4 that works and pays taxes than some sicko who is renting and lives here because he gets "free" rent and can hang out with a bunch of other sickos. Open to other ideas...

[Joan Roberts]

I really DID want to leave it with the last post, but your comment about "doing nothing" flooored me.

We have residency restrictions, we have a web site with pictures and addresses and actual description of incidents.

We're doing about as much as makes sense, IMO. Should we put them in a cage and put 'em in the July 4 parade?

We also have some admittedly anecdotal evidence that increased restrictions only encourages offenders to drop out of sight.

By your own admission, the current residency restricctions aren't uniformly enforced. Why in the world would you expect a more sweepiing ordinance to have better enforcement? Broader regulations always result in worse, not better, enforcement.

I'm sorry, but the reallity is my kids have a much greater chance being harmed by a speeder or drunk driver than a pedophile who preys on strangers.

Of all the offenders listed on the county website, I counted only 3 who were there for offenses against children under 13 (YOUR criterion) whom they didn't know. Bad as some of the other guys might be, hanging around theh schoolyard wasn't their act.

I don't want to be cynical here, but if you're looking for an issue for your next campaign, you may want to try something a little more mundane. Talk to a few more folks about what they're really worried about.

[Colleen Wing]

Joan - I'm sorry, but the reality is my kids have a much greater chance being harmed by a speeder or drunk driver than a pedophile who preys on strangers.

Excuse me sweetheart, but did you tell your children that predators are only the scary men you don't know. Everyone is a stranger the first time you meet them.

Since you know so much about sex offenders then you know that they use their relationship in the community or in their neighborhood or family to build trust and gain credibility. It's about long term manipulation and worming your way into someones life. It's about building a relationship with the victim only to violate them.

The average person doesn't know where the registered sex offenders live. That is why concerned citizens bring this issue to the forefront. The laws aren't being enforced. period.

[Jim O'Bryan]

[i]...Excuse me sweetheart,
.

Colleen

"Defensive of Marriage Act" is in the global section.


.

[Joan Roberts]

Excuse me sweetheart, but did you tell your children that predators are only the scary men you don't know. Everyone is a stranger the first time you meet them.

Since you know so much about sex offenders then you know that they use their relationship in the community or in their neighborhood or family to build trust and gain credibility. It's about long term manipulation and worming your way into someones life. It's about building a relationship with the victim only to violate them.
.

Sorry, honeybun. Won't play that game with you. I know better.
If you think City Council or the LPD will protect your kids better than you can, Godspeed.

[Ryan Salo]

I don't want to be cynical here, but if you're looking for an issue for your next campaign, you may want to try something a little more mundane. Talk to a few more folks about what they're really worried about.

Joan, First of all this is not just a political issue, this is a safety and economic issue. I am guessing that you have never been door to door. I met a lot of great people last year on both sides of every issue. Most of the issues where location or income dependent (rich folks wanted less taxes, busy streets wanted more repairs) The one issue I heard that was across those lines was safety. No matter what the facts are, people are concerned with the safety of their children. If we continue on the same path we will continue to push out our families. We have a 25% increase in listings this year compared to last, and the trend will continue. I am not saying that people are leaving on only one issue, however I know that for a lot this is a big reason. If you and I cannot agree on why we need changes I hope that you can at least see that the perception of a safe city needs to be strengthened. Have a great night!

[dl meckes]

Ryan-

I don't think that Joan is disagreeing that this is a problem, I think both she and I disagree with "quick fix" types of ideas. They do not appear to be well thought out or useful.

While you felt I could do some homework for you, I will suggest that you can learn a lot by exploring the thinking of predators. I spent a lot of hours tracking one (an alleged predator) through the internet. It wasn't something I enjoyed, but I got a bit of an education.

I agree with Joan that it is completely reasonable to expect that laws currently in place be enforced.

It is also not unreasonable to question whether ex-offenders are placed into communities with help from the county (etc.) and wonder whether Lakewood is being used as a dumping ground due to its high volume of affordable housing.

[Charyn Varkonyi]

Collen:

I dont have a clue why you are being so flip and rude to Joan when you go on from there and absolutely substantiate her point! It IS about violation of trust and well as physical abuse and EDUCATING parents and children will go a long way to prevent that. As a matter of fact... it is the ONLY way to prevent that.

Ryan:

I also dont understand your rudeness. We are all on the side of the children!

All:

Just because there are differences of opinion as to what will be a successful method of keeping them safe does not mean we should choose our battle lines and cling tight!

How bout everyone look at the other positions and think about what is VALID and GOOD about them??

Better enforcement of existing laws is a good thing that most everyone agrees on. Better education is a good thing that most everyone agrees on. If we can all agree on these two basic issues then we have a great start with plenty of work to do.

Why let progress on these issues be held up by arguments ad nauseum on measures that (1) might not even be able to pass a vote or (2) that require these basics to be addresses first.

I also add that while it is tempting to require the government to do more we must ALWAYS realize that doing more costs money and we must be ready to say where those funds will come from. Right now we have no additional funds... so how do we pay for better enforcement and more education? Are you ready to pay higher taxes? If not, what services should we give up - what services CAN we give up?

Sorry to be the wet blanket - but without full consideration and action planning - this is just political rhetoric and just furthers the divide in Lakewood instead of binding us together for a common good.

Come together on a few key points, identify an actiona plan, determine HOW to implement the plan, implement and then evalute the effectiveness and adjust as necessary.

Only then can we start to beleive that our children will be safer.

JMO

Peace,
~Charyn

[Ryan Salo]

I apologize if I come off as rude. I am just sick to death of inactivity. It seems like most people want things to change but they just shoot down any ideas that are presented. This comes to budget cuts, personnel changes, safety issues, etc. It just seems like much more can be done if people in a leadership position just do something as simple as community meetings. I am just seeing a lot of good people leaving this city and the desire to live here is not as high as it used to be (based on real estate market trends). I am not stuck on any options in particular, I just don't see a lot of constructive conversations that eventually lead to ACTION. We can talk and write about issues until we are blue in the face, but we need to eventually act.

[Michael Donnelly]

dl meckes wrote:

It is also not unreasonable to question whether ex-offenders are placed into communities with help from the county (etc.) and wonder whether Lakewood is being used as a dumping ground due to its high volume of affordable housing.

Thanks for bringing this point up dl.; this is one of my big concerns also. I think if people would look into the 117th & Clifton neighborhood they would find a disproportionate number of sex offenders compared to anywhere else in the county.

[Jason Stewart]

I apologize if I come off as rude. I am just sick to death of inactivity. It seems like most people want things to change but they just shoot down any ideas that are presented. This comes to budget cuts, personnel changes, safety issues, etc. It just seems like much more can be done if people in a leadership position just do something as simple as community meetings. I am just seeing a lot of good people leaving this city and the desire to live here is not as high as it used to be (based on real estate market trends). I am not stuck on any options in particular, I just don't see a lot of constructive conversations that eventually lead to ACTION. We can talk and write about issues until we are blue in the face, but we need to eventually act.

Campaigning already?

PS If you're looking for a campaign manager, I'll charge half of what Demro charges. :wink:

[dl meckes]

I found this link to the Maryland Attorney General's official web site and thought it included good information:

http://www.oag.state.md.us/sexualOffender/

[Ryan Salo]

Campaigning already?

PS If you're looking for a campaign manager, I'll charge half of what Demro charges.

I'll keep that in mind I am actually not planning on running for council again. It was a wonderful experience and I would not trade it for anything, but I don't see myself ever doing it again. I'll let someone else take a stab at it.

[Phil Florian]

I wonder if this discussion could meld with Jim O's discussion about block watches? It seems like we as a city continue to look to the City Officials to "fix" issues we have concerns with but there is only so many things a government entitity can do. Some neighborhoods are tight in Lakewood and others have neighbors that wouldn't recognize each other if they ran into each other at the mall. I live on a street that is kind of in-between. There are a number of families that know each other, stop to chat, hang out, watch their kids play and so on. There are others that keep to themselves and don't do much outside of that. This is really apparent at, of all places, block party time.

Could we agree that a close-knit block is safer than one filled with homes where no group of neighbors can count on each other? A closer knit neighborhood you see people looking out for each other's children, pets, property and so on. This doesn't mean close friendships, either. My wife passed out in the middle of the day a year ago and people she didn't even know where outside or looking around ran over as fast as they could to see what was wrong. This is just nice, common courtesy and a concern for each other's well-being.

What chance does a known sexual predator have in an environment like that? What if this known predator was approached by some folks and made aware that THEY were aware and left it at that? Maybe a letter would be less confrontational but something saying,"hey, you paid your dues for your crime but we know recividism is high so if we have the slightest concern about you, the law will be infromed immediately." Maybe regular block-watch meetings with a police officer visiting to chat and discuss things.

I think we need to focus on developing our city as a group of involved citizens (like those on this Forum) vs. waiting for the government to do it for us (which, historically, proves to be a long wait). Jim, does this fit a possible way a block-watch could be useful? Maybe the role the government could play is to help identify and connect these closer-knit neighborhoods to talk about ideas and how things work or don't work and then find ways to encourage other blocks/neighborhoods/etc. to connect in similar ways. Kind of like how the schools developed consensus for the new buildings. Start with small, involved groups and build it up and up on those foundations. It won't necessarily be ABOUT sexual predators but this could be an issue that such a committed group of citizens can address in their neighborhoods.


Just some thoughts.


Phil