Keeping track of sex offenders

Cortez Journal ^ | April 21, 2005 | Kelsey Warner

[trussell]

April 21, 2005

Keeping track of sex offenders

By Kelsey Warner
Journal Staff Writer

It happens with alarming frequency - registered sex offenders going AWOL and being lost to law enforcement agencies.

Take Jeffrey Barrett for example, a convicted sex offender whose current whereabouts are unknown.

BARRETT

GODDARD

"He was originally registered with us (the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office), he moved to the city and we de-registered him and they registered him," Lt. Steve Harmon said. "One of their officers did a spot check and found out he had moved back to the county."

Barrett hasn't been found, but reports indicate he may be in Anacortes, Wash., Harmon said.

Another example is the case of Michael Goddard, a convicted sex offender living in Cortez. Roughly six months ago Goddard moved from the address he was registered under and into another home - still in Cortez. A phone call from Goddard's former neighbor informed police that he had moved. According to Lt. Darrell Hinton, Goddard failed to re-register after he moved, a failure that resulted in his April 12 arrest.

So how does this keep happening?

"It happens all the time around the country," Harmon said. "We can't keep a 24-hour watch on these guys."

Local law enforcement agencies monitor sex offenders by performing random spot checks.

According to Harmon, office protocol was changed this year when responsibility for making random checks on the county's 36 registered offenders was moved from the patrol department to detectives.

But, Harmon said, "We can't check on all of them. We move down the list every week."

Like the sheriff's office, Cortez Police has also recently changed the way in which they oversee sex offenders. Each officer has been assigned one or two of the 20 sex offenders in the city to randomly drop in on, Hinton said.

REGISTRY

According to the CBI Web site:

There are 579 current sex offenders in the state that have failed to register.

As of January 2005, 8,169 sex offenders were registered in Colorado - a 7 percent increase from January 2004.

Approximately 65 percent of convicted sex offenders are placed on probation each year.

Only 16 percent of sexual assaults are reported to police.

In the last year, approximately 1 in 150 women and 1 in 830 men have experienced a completed sexual assault.

Harmon wishes more could be done to oversee the offenders.

"We don't have the manpower to check up on them the way I'd like," Harmon said.

According to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation Web site, "While sex offenders cannot be cured, it is believed that some can be managed. Colorado utilizes the Containment Approach to manage sex offenders in the community. Sex offenders are never managed by an individual person. Rather they are managed by community supervision teams."

Registration is a condition of release for most sex offenders. The details of the case determine when and how often a convicted sex offender must register. Some are required to register only when they move, others are required to re-register on their birthday, while still others are required to register every 90 days for the rest of their lives.

The current state statute governing registration requires that every person who wishes to see the sex offender registry demonstrate a need to know. For example, a library or recreation center - public facilities that are used commonly by unsupervised children - have a need to know the identity of registered sex offenders. At the same time if children routinely walk home from school or go to a family member's house, a parent has a need to know if a sex offender lives along that route.

Hinton would like see the development of a national registry and a loosening of restrictions on the availability of the local sex offender registry.

Reach Kelsey Warner here .

[trussell]

The first person is missing, and believed to have moved to Washington...possibly in Anacortes. If you have seen him, you can contact the Cortez PD at 970-565-8441

[duck duck goose]

Why does this keep happening?? I am all for the criminal bracelets.

[isthisnickcool]

They have to be put in jail and kept there. If that's not possible then at least tattoo their face and hands bright red. OK, that too harsh? Then how about something like this?

[leadpencil1]

Keeping track of sex offenders

Headstones are easy to keep track of.

[queenkathy]

That's fine for pedophiles. Let's clean up the lists and make sure we have the pedophiles and that will work. Each state has their own list with their state's requirement. In Fl they differentiate the pedophiles from 17 yr olds who had sex with 15 yr old g/friends.

[grundle]

People who vote to give parole to convicted child molesters are just as evil as the child molesters themselves.

[grundle]

I like your idea of tattoos.

[jwalburg]

Citizens should demand that lists be available online. Many communities already provide this service. Ours includes pictures and maps. Colorado is a state that provides initiated measures, right? A statewide Internet sex offender registry should be put to a vote on the next ballot there.

[duck duck goose]

I agree with you. The system needs to differentiate. I have a neighbor who is a registered sex offender. His g/f was 17 and he was 18.

[The Great Yazoo]

If people who commit sex crimes against children are so dangerous that they have to be registered for life after serving their sentences, why are they let out of prison in the first place? Thomas Sowell

[duck duck goose]

There is..
www.criminalcheck.com

I checked it for offenders in my area.

[isthisnickcool]

That's fine for pedophiles. Let's clean up the lists and make sure we have the pedophiles and that will work. Each state has their own list with their state's requirement. In Fl they differentiate the pedophiles from 17 yr olds who had sex with 15 yr old g/friends.

Works for me. BTW, because of the way Meagan's Law worked there are some states that have many people that have been convicted of various sex crimes in the past who are not in the special offender database.

[lizma]

Then how about something like this?

I don't think we should let the truly heinous ones out of jail at all but I don't see why can't at least ankle bracelet them. I looked up the guys in my area and about a third of them say "current address unknown". That's deplorable. And spooky.

[patriciamary]

I'm for the Death Sentence for first time offenders of this horrible crime.Then they can never commit another crime against and innocent child again!.

[patriciamary]

I'm for the Death Sentence for first time offenders of this horrible crime.Then they can never commit another crime against and innocent child again!.

[patriciamary]

I'm for the Death Sentence for first time offenders of this horrible crime.Then can can never commit another crime against an innocent child again!.

[trussell]

I agree! I bought the full list from the CBI, and have happily shared it with anyone who wants it!

[Netizen]

Headstones are easy to keep track of.

Bingo!

[queenkathy]

Same here. The pendulum always swings too far in one direction of another. We tend to overeact when something horrible happens. A pedophile belongs on the list. But someone who has sex with their g/friend does not. Period. OUr list in Michigan doesn't tell me enough to protect my g/children. I don't care if my neighbor had sex with his underage g/friend,(usually with the permission of her parents BTW). I do however care if he is classified as a pedophile.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

Here's to hoping I run across Jeffrey Barrett

while I'm on FTO. Could make for a nice day.