Neighbors notified

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Over the next couple of weeks, as many as 500 residents could receive postcards informing them of a level 3 sex offender living within 1/4 mile of their residence.

It is not a cause for alarm, but an effort by the local Police Department to enhance community safety and protection, according to Corporal Ryan Walker with the Pea Ridge Police Department. Thanks to new software, the department has the ability to notify people of sex offenders living in close proximity to them. There are three level 3 sex offenders living within the city limits of Pea Ridge.

Walker said the local police department does not assign risk levels. That is the responsibility of the Arkansas Sex Offender Screening and Risk Assessment program (SOSRA).

Any time a level 3 or level 4 sex offender moves into city limits, cards will be mailed to residents who live within 1/4 mile.

“We’ve always had notification available to the public at the police station, but now we’re taking an additional step to mail out the notification,” Walker said. “More information can be found on the county’s web site.”

This notification is not intended to increase fear, rather, it is our belief that an informed public is a safer public, Walker said.

Local police departments have no legal authority to direct where a sex offender lives unless court ordered restrictions exist. The offender is constitutionally free to live wherever he or she chooses.

Walker stressed that the information is not to harass the offender,but to inform the public.

“Sex offenders have always lived in our communities,” Walker said, “but it wasn’t until the passage of the child and sex offender registration act that law enforcement personnel even knew where they were living.

The law prohibits persons assigned a level 3 or 4 from living within 2,000 feet of a pubic school, city-maintained park or licensed day care.

A Verification of Residency form is sent to a sex offender’s last reported address every six months for levels 1, 2 or 3, and every three months in the case of an offender who has been designated as a sexual violent predator - a level 4.

For questions or concerns, call the Police Department at 451-8220, extension 1, and leave a number for an officer to call.

The Benton County web site sex offender is www.bentoncountysheriff.org/SexOffenders.aspx.

SEX OFFENDER LEVELS

◊Level one, low risk - Individuals with no prior history of sexual acting out.

◊Level two, moderate risk - Individuals with limited prior history of sexual acting out.

◊Level 3, high risk - Individuals usually have histories of repeat sexual offending, and/or strong antisocial, violent or predatory personality characteristics.

◊Level 4, sexually violent predator - Individuals with impaired judgment or control who have sexual or violent compulsions that they lack the ability to control.

News, Pages 1 on 01/26/2011