Article in today's Journal Times

Candidate wants more restrictions on sex offenders in Racine

By Janine Anderson
Journal TimesRACINE —

Aldermanic candidate Fred Dooley wants Racine to pass an ordinance to restrict where sex offenders can live in the city, and limit which ones can move in.

The ordinance is modeled after one enacted in Franklin, a suburban Milwaukee County community. Will an ordinance designed to protect a suburb from Milwaukee’s sex offenders work in an urban area?

Dooley is running against incumbent Alderman Raymond DeHahn for the council’s 7th District seat.

Franklin’s ordinance, drafted by Alderman Steve Olson, was written to “protect us from the state,” he said. Several years ago Milwaukee County was looking to build a facility for its worst sexual offenders — mainly serial rapists and child molesters. Franklin, because of its rural nature, quickly emerged as a possible option for the halfway house.

But the community rebelled, and Olson’s ordinance grew out of their outrage. “We studied long and hard all of our ordinances, our zoning code and state statute to find ways to prevent us from getting everybody else’s offenders,” he said. “We’ll take ours, just don’t give us everybody else’s. That’s the foundation of the ordinance.”

Ordinance limits offendersThe ordinance sets up “safety zones,” 2,000-foot buffer zones surrounding schools and other places where children may be. The zones put about three-fourths of Franklin’s nearly 35 square miles off limits to offenders. The ordinance also prohibits offenders who did not live in Franklin at the time they committed their offense from moving into the city. This was the key provision to block Milwaukee from sending its sex offenders into the county’s most rural community.

Dooley thinks Racine should look into something similar.“To me it seems like common sense legislation to protect our kids from really dangerous people,” he said. “These are dangerous people thrust back into society.”

For a community like Franklin, especially given the situation, the ordinance made sense. But would it be best for a city like Racine?Urban vs. suburbanRacine has 80,000 people packed into 15.4 square miles. Most of the county’s crime, including sex crimes, take place in the city of Racine. Compare that with Franklin, where 33,000 people live on 34.6 square miles. The suburb accounts for a small portion of Milwaukee County’s crime.

The Wisconsin Department of Correction was not able to supply exact numbers of sex offenders living in Racine or Racine County Wednesday. Their online sex offender registry shows 354 sex offenders living in Racine County’s 13 primary ZIP codes. About three-fourths of them — 268 sex offenders — live in Racine’s five ZIP codes. Burlington, with 47 sex offenders in its ZIP code, has the second-highest concentration of offenders in the county. There is one sexually violent person living in Racine County, according to the Department of Health and Family Services, the state agency that handles Chapter 980 commitments said. Statewide, 17 sexually violent persons have been released into Wisconsin communities.

If Franklin’s ordinance were to be enacted here it would not have kept anyone who lived here when they committed their offense from moving back. Additionally, it may be difficult to establish similar safety zones because of the number of schools in the city.“It would prevent Racine from becoming the dumping ground like they tried to do in Franklin, I guess,” Dooley said. “It just seems like common sense. If enough communities band together, if all the advocates want to make the state look at changing things to keep people away from our kids more long-term.”

What would it do?

So far, no one has threatened to foist sex offenders from outside the city on Racine. An ordinance that keeps offenders who did not live here from moving here in the future is not likely to keep out large numbers of people. When asked about where the most appropriate places for sex offenders to go would be, Dooley gave the kind of answer that got Franklin riled up in the first place.“There’s so much more rural area out there,” he said. “People can go where there aren’t kids. Maybe that’s what we need to do.”

In Racine County, rural areas would be outside the city of Racine, in places like Caledonia, Raymond and Dover. If those communities were to pass ordinances like Racine’s, then only sex offenders who came from the sparsely populate towns could move back there.

Ultimately, Dooley’s push for this ordinance is one for an active stand to protect children, and not simply about closing Racine’s boundaries.“I think if enough communities got serious about it, there would be an effect at the state level,” Dooley said. “There are too many people being released after committing these serious crimes, and so many against kids.”