By Tom Grace
SIDNEY _ More money and improved communication were requested Thursday when the state Assembly Minority Sex Offender Watch Task Force met at the Sidney Civic Center.
Assemblyman Peter Lopez, R-Schoharie, chairs the task force, and he invited area educators, police and service providers to tell him what legislators should do to protect victims of sexual attacks.
First to speak was Otsego County Sheriff Richard Devlin, whose office posts information about sexual offenders online at www.sheriffalerts.com/cap_main.php?office=54533.
``Our new search program has been well-received,'' he said. ``It's a great tool and gets information out to the public, where it belongs."
Still, he said, the system would work better if people could search a wider geographical area, because convicted sexual felons move around.
``We really need some action at the federal level,'' Devlin said.
Delaware County Sheriff Thomas Mills said he believes a system should be devised to ensure police agencies communicate openly with each other.
``The list of people we should be watching keeps getting longer, but we have to do a better job of sharing information,'' he said.
When sex offenders move, they are required to register with police, but the system depends on their cooperation, he noted.
Sidney Police Chief Michael Hood said controlling sex offenders would be easier if criminal standards were more uniform from state to state.
Hood said he was aware of a convicted sexual offender from out of state who had worked locally, but his department was constrained by law from informing the public about him because it was uncertain how his offense would be classified under New York state law.
Hood and others said that when former offenders move, they must notify police of their whereabouts within 10 days of moving.
``They have 10 days, and 10 days may too late,'' he said.
In New York, offenders are graded from Level 1 to Level 3 on a Risk Assessment Instrument. Among considerations are the age of the victim, use of violence and duration of offense. The higher someone scores, the more likely it's thought he or she will re-offend. Level 3 offenders are considered riskiest.
Colleen Merced, program manager at Opportunities For Otsego, told Lopez and Assemblyman Jim Bacalles, R-Corning, that money is needed to pay for programs to help victims and educate students at local schools.
She noted that Otsego County has an hospitable child-advocacy center for interviewing victims. Their conversations are videotaped so they are spared reinterviewing by other agencies.
Merced, Lopez and Joanne Moxley, a social worker at Bainbridge-Guilford Central School, spoke about the need to change attitudes of accepting sexual violence, as is commonly portrayed on commercial television.
``I think parents are becoming desensitized to this, too,'' said Nicholas Savin, superintendent of Cherry Valley-Springfield Central School.
Recently, he said, he had to broach parents about an apparent offense and was surprised at how little they reacted.
Moxley said Chenango County needs to improve its delivery of mental-health services, which are hard to find there except in Norwich.
Lopez, who thanked everyone for attending, said he and his staff would study the comments and see what could be translated into legislation.
``It's really good to hear from people who are dealing with this issue in different ways,'' he said.
