This editorial has been corrected since its publication. It now reflects a correct figure for the number of sex offenders registered in Everett.
No one wants a sex offender living next door. Yet every community must find a way to balance the rights of justifiably concerned neighbors with those of registered sex offenders. The city of Everett has quickly found there are no perfect solutions.
Families in the Riverside neighborhood are worried that landlords will open a group home for sex offenders. One such offender moved into the McManus mansion on E. Grand Avenue, only to be re-jailed soon thereafter for drinking alcohol.
Wisely, the city is launching a task force of public officials and neighborhood representatives to address the problem. The task force will comb through the city’s legal options, educate the public and lobby the Legislature.
Legally, cities can only do so much. Federal and state laws supersede local ordinances, and they’re constantly changing. Everett has 344 sex offenders in its city limits; 344 offenders whose restrictions depend on the date, type and number of their offenses. The city’s ability to regulate where these people live is very limited.
Real action will require close cooperation with the state Department of Corrections. The DOC, which sets terms of an offender’s release, can provide invaluable help to the city — before offenders are slated to move in. Communities may want to be fair, but they also want to be safe.
Neighbors need to be armed with knowledge, and the task force can help by providing them with plenty of information and resources. What does a violation look like? What should kids know? How can a neighbor suggest a solution or report a problem? Law enforcement and DOC officials can provide these kinds of answers.
The task force is already looking for examples of what cities can do to keep neighborhoods safer. Every such endeavor requires toeing careful legal lines, because this issue is a hotbed of civil liberties concerns. Sex offenders do, after all, have constitutional rights. Wishing they didn’t won’t change that fact.
Ultimately, the task force will provide a broader, local base of support. Concerned citizens should give it time to get established and listen to its plans. Its members must familiarize themselves with complex layers of laws, zoning codes and community feelings. Already, task force members say neighbors have shown an impressive appreciation for the issue’s daunting complexity.
It’s a fact of life that sex offenders live among us, and it will continue to be so. The Everett task force can empower citizens by helping them understand the what, why and how of it all, and working to strike a reasonable balance between everyone’s rights.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
