Advocacy group challenges proposed Brook Park sex offender ordinance

From Cleveland.com, and Kudos to Ohio RSOL

https://www.cleveland.com/brook-park/index.ssf/2018/09/advocacy_group_member_challeng.html

Advocacy group challenges proposed Brook Park sex offender ordinance
Updated Sep 29; Posted Sep 29
By Beth Mlady, Special to cleveland.com mladywrites@yahoo.com

An ordinance to further limit where registered sex offenders can live is still under consideration by Brook Park City Council.
BROOK PARK, Ohio -- Advocate Barbara Wright opposes Brook Park City Council's intention to further limit where registered sex offenders can live. The Brook Park ordinance under consideration adds parks to vicinity restrictions and also prohibits two sex offenders from living together in the same residential dwelling.

Wright, a member of advocacy groups Ohio Reform Sex Offender Laws (RSOL) and the National Association for Rational Sexual Offense Laws (NARSOL), sent a lengthy e-mail to cleveland.com and Brook Park Law Director Carol Dillon Horvath on Sept. 24.

"I am writing to challenge those restrictions as a violation of Brook Park's home rule authority," Wright wrote. "Brook Park is proposing restrictions which exceed Ohio law prohibiting residents from living within 1,000 feet of any school, preschool or daycare center. Ohio RSOL is in the process of identifying plaintiffs to challenge similar restrictions in Cuyahoga County."

When contacted by cleveland.com, Wright would not provide further comment.

She maintains in her e-mail, however, that the U.S. Department of Justice reports that "residency restrictions do not protect society," and she asserted that "non-registered residents of Brook Park are nine times more likely to commit sex crimes than registered residents."

"The Brook Park ordinance will do absolutely nothing to prevent the majority of sex crimes from occurring, and may even lead residents to a false sense of security, thereby allowing them to 'let their guard down,'" Wright indicated. "Vigilance starts at home, not in public parks and playgrounds."

Horvath said City Council at its most recent meeting granted her extra time to further study the issue, and she is doing that, particularly in regard to the home-rule aspect, since Brook Park is a home-rule city.

"Everybody has their own views ... and the city's position is that we're continuing to review and research the proposed legislation," Horvath told cleveland.com.

The ordinance is slated to receive its second of three public readings during City Council's Oct. 2 meeting.