Milton #2 in Chittenden for registry enrollment

By NATHAN LAMB | Milton Independent Staff Writer
mireporter@mac.com

There are 42 registered sex offenders living in Milton, a population statistic that trails only Burlington (101) among all of Chittenden County (307).

Those numbers were provided by Detective Sgt. Arthur Cyr of the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations (CUSI), which investigates sex crimes and enforces registry regulations with periodic sweeps.

Asked what the statistics mean for Milton residents, Cyr said people should be aware of them and take precautions, but not overreact.

“I don't think they live in an unsafe community,” he said, of Milton. “The majority of sex offenders are in compliance {with the conditions of release}.”

Verifying that is part of the job for CUSI, which conducted a countywide compliance sweep of offenders earlier this summer.

“We had 307 offenders that we checked throughout all of Chittenden County and out of that there were 27 people who were out of compliance,” said Cyr. “That may have been simple as…they changed addresses and they didn't notify us.”

Under state law, those listed in the registry have three days to notify authorities about change of address, and face possibility of arrest if they don't. The sweep this summer was the second by CUSI in less than a year.

Asked about how Milton's registry numbers effect local police work, Police Chief Brett Van Noordt described it as another source of information, adding the accompanying work is shared with several agencies.

“It can be a little more work for the police, because we will get involved mostly when we discover a sex offender hasn't kept his address current with the Sex Offender Registry,” he said. “Otherwise our involvement is with {the Department of} Corrections, particularly when they call and ask if they can place an offender at a specific residence in Milton.”

Van Noordt credited Corrections with calling whenever an offender designated as high-risk is moving to town, and in other cases as well.

The potential living space of inmates up for early release and being placed through corrections is a common focus of those discussions, and Van Noordt indicated it can be fruitful, referencing one time where a former inmate was being considered for living space less than 1000 feet from a school.

“Sometimes we'll object because it's too close to a school or day care, or some place we wouldn't want a sex offender placed,” he said. “We've developed a good working relationship with Corrections in recent years.”

Enrollment in the registry is required for convictions of sexual assault, lewd and lascivious conduct, kidnapping with the intent of sexual assault, and sexual activity from a caregiver, according to the registry website. Attempting any of the previously listed crimes also qualifies.

There's also a slightly longer list for crimes involving minors, which includes slave trafficking, sexual

exploitation, prostitution, and repeat violations of voyeurism. However, violations where age is the only crime are not registry-eligible if the perpetrator is under 18 and the victim is over 12.

Registry enrollment typically expires after 10 years, unless the convict is a repeat offender, committed sexual assault, or is deemed a sexually violent predator.

Van Noordt said most of the public is aware of the Department of Public Safety's internet registry, which lists offenders who have what's known as “heightened notification status,” due to conviction of certain crimes, recidivism, being designated “high risk” or a predator, or non-compliance with treatment,

Less well known, said Van Noordt is how the remainder are handled: for them, registry information is available only to law enforcement, government agencies or potential employers authorized to conduct background checks, or offenders who want to ensure their information is correct.

Given that distinction, Van Noordt said the public should be aware that the online registry is not comprehensive.

“At any given time there are only 7 to 10 percent of all the Vermont sex offenders that are on the…website,” he said.

Of the offenders living in Milton, seven meet legal criteria to have their name, photo, and offenses posted online through the Department of Public Safety's Internet registry.

Information about the other 35 can be obtained under certain circumstances, provided a resident can articulate a valid safety concern about a specific individual, said Van Noordt. In that case, the name, offense, warrant status, and whether the offender has complied with treatment can be made available. While Milton Police can provide that service, Van Noordt said requests are very infrequent.

Unlike some other states, Vermont's registry does not provide addresses of any sex offenders to the public and Van Noordt said that, in general, access to the 2,500 files in the Vermont registry is tightly controlled, due to the legislature's concern about the privacy rights of people who've already served their time.

However, Van Noordt said those laws may be revisited shortly, given the number of petitions and highly placed support for reform following the alleged abduction and murder of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett in Randolph in late June.

The state's current practices came under fire when it was learned that the man accused of abducting Bennett, her uncle Michael Jacques, was a convicted sex offender who was released early from his prison sentence.

Since then, the City of Barre adopted a new ordinance prohibiting sex offenders from living within 1000 feet of a school, park, or playground, while petitions have circulated for the state to adopt “Jessica's Law," which carries a mandatory 25-year sentence for sex crimes involving minors.

On the other side, there have been calls for further review of what went wrong with Jacques' case, and concern that mandatory minimums would send more sex offense cases to trial, to the detriment of the victims. Others maintain that reform of treatment or release programs are the answer, since most offenders are eventually released back into the community.

As a member of Vermont's Police Chief Association, Van Noordt said they're keenly interested in this debate and what comes out of it, though he envisioned their role as being more advisory and educational than political.

“We're taking a position that the law needs to be more strict than it currently is, and we consider our job…to assist the legislators and educate them on how the law would actually work if enacted,” he said.

“I suspect that you will probably see the legislature pass something similar to Jessica's law this winter,” he added at another point.