NY - “Bathroom Cops” Arresting Men in Public Bathrooms After “Shaking Off” When Done Urinating

Original Article

10/09/2014

By John Vibes

A string of recent complaints filed by alleged victims of wrongful arrest are bringing question to NYPD practices of arresting men in public restrooms. There are currently undercover cops posted up in public restrooms across New York City, waiting to catch “sexual predators” in the act.

However, according to dozens of alleged victims, average men are becoming entrapped by these undercover agents, when they have done nothing wrong. Many of the victims have claimed that after urinating, “shaking off” and zipping up their pants, they were accused of “simulating masturbation” in view of the police officer.

The New York Times recently reported that police have been standing in public restrooms and staring down everyone who passes through, while they use the urinals. If the person makes any movements that the officer does not approve of, they can be arrested for “lewdness” with no evidence aside from the testimony of the officer. Since police have been stationed in public bathrooms, lewdness arrests have increased 7-fold. In the past year alone, over 60 people were arrested in one bus terminal restroom, many of them for alleged “lewdness” in the bathroom stall.

Dozens of the people who have been arrested in this trap have sought legal representation from The Legal Aid Society and other independent sources. Many of these people reported that the police made them feel uncomfortable by staring at them while they used the restroom, and it seems that if anyone is guilty of lewdness it was actually the undercover officer.

It is not clear why undercover agents have been placed in these bathrooms to begin with, even Capt. John Fitzpatrick, the Port Authority police commander who oversees the bus terminal, admits that complaints of lewdness in public bathrooms are “few and far in between”.

Although, Fitzpatrick is still standing by the actions of his officers, claiming that the dozens of men who have now filed complaints were in fact being lewd in the restroom, otherwise, he says, they would not have been arrested.

“They are not sidling up to somebody, trying to sneak a peek and misrepresenting what the person is doing, there is no mistaking their behavior,” he said.

One man, accused of “simulating masturbation” says that he was simply “shaking off”, a near instinctual act that is not at all lewd or uncommon.

“I wasn’t committing a lewd act, I was peeing in the beginning, but I was shaking off when the guy stepped back and looked at me,” Mr. Holden, a 28-year-old baker, said of his police encounter.

After Holden walked out of the bathroom he was arrested by police and taken to jail. When Holden was being processed in the jail he overheard one of the other cops refer to his arresting officer as “the gay whisperer”. This was a fairly offensive comment for Holden, consider the fact that he is a gay man, and feels that may be the reason why he got arrested.

“I wore a leather jacket, fitted clothes. I guess that fits the description of a homosexual male, I was like, O.K., although I’m gay, I wasn’t doing anything,” he said.

Holden’s story is just one of dozens, and although there may be a few perverts in the bunch, it is safe to say that a vast majority of these people are innocent.

NY - Sex Offenders Housing Restrictions Are Pointless

Original Article

08/25/2014

By Jesse Singal

On Thursday, Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times reported that “Dozens of sex offenders who have satisfied their sentences in New York State are being held in prison beyond their release dates because of a new interpretation of a state law that governs where they can live.” In short, since 2005, sex offenders in the state can't live within 1,000 feet of a school, and a February ruling from the state's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision extended that restriction to homeless shelters.

Because the onus is on sex offenders to find approved housing before they’re released, Goldstein reported, they've been left with very few options, especially in densely-populated New York City, where there are schools everywhere. This has led to an uncomfortable legal limbo and sparked at least one lawsuit (so far) on behalf of an offender who is still in custody even though he was supposed to be out by now.

The unfortunate thing about this situation is that laws designed to restrict where sex offenders can live are really and truly useless, except as a means of politicians scoring easy political points by ratcheting up hysteria. There are many tricky social-scientific issues on which there are a range of opinions and some degree of debate among experts, but this isn't one of them. Among those whose job it is to figure out how to reduce the rate at which sex offenders commit crimes (as opposed to those whose job it is to get reelected, in part by hammering away at phantom threats), there is zero controversy: These laws don't work, and may actually increase sexual offenders’ recidivism rates.

Maia Christopher, head of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers, sent Science of Us a policy paper her organization has prepared on this issue (it’s not yet online, but should be later this week). ATSA’s views on housing restrictions for sex offenders are completely straightforward: The group “does not support the use of residence restrictions as a feasible strategy for sex offender management” because of a lack of evidence they do any good.

The paper notes that these laws have proliferated—“[a]t least 30 states and hundreds of cities” have them—because of some basic misunderstandings about how sex crimes are committed. There’s a collective American fixation on the creepy image of a sex offender salivating just beyond the playground fence, but that’s just not how things usually work.

Rather, these crimes are generally committed by someone known to the victim—93 percent of the time when it comes to child victims, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics—and the majority take place either in the victim’s home or the home of someone they know. “Therefore,” the authors write, “policies based on ‘stranger danger’ do not adequately address the reality of sexual abuse.”

Rest of the article

NY - Registry won't make us all safer

Placebo

Original Article

05/15/2014

The problem with feel-good public safety initiatives like the proposed Violent Offenders Registry is that they lull us into a false sense that we're doing something legitimate to protect ourselves from harm.

The state Legislature, once again borrowing from a tragedy involving a child, has proposed setting up a list of people who've served time for violent crimes. The bill, dubbed "Brittany's Law," is similar in design and purpose to the sex offender registries that became popular two decades ago.

Like the state’s 18-year-old sex offender registry, this bill would require violent felons to register with the state. Those subject to registration would be anyone convicted under the "violent offender" section of state Penal Law -- which covers such crimes as murders, assaults, kidnappings, terrorism and gang violence.

The information available to the public from the registry could include the person's name, address, photo and information about the crime he or she committed. How much information that would be available on each subject would be determined by ranking, again similar to sex offender registries, based on a subjective determination of the felon's propensity to commit more violent crimes, with Level 1 being the lowest and Level 3 the highest.

The crime upon which this bill is based is the 2009 murder of 12 year-old Brittany Passalacqua and her mother, Helen Buchel. Their killer, John Edward Brown, was on early release from prison after serving most of a 3-year sentence for violently assaulting his infant daughter.

Supporters of the registry claim Brittany's Law could have prevented their deaths by alerting the victims to the presence of a killer living among them.

It's true, it would be nice to know when a violent felon, like a sex offender, is living in the neighborhood. But in reality, how many of us regularly check the lists to find out? The new registry wouldn’t take into consideration the fact that many violent crimes are committed by people under duress, or influenced by alcohol and other circumstances that might be precipitated by a single incident. In other words, a lot of violent people in your neighborhood, just like people with a propensity to abuse children or commit sexual assaults, wouldn't necessarily appear on this list unless they’d been caught and convicted. The registry also doesn't take into consideration the fact that most victims of sexual or domestic violence already know their assailants. So how extra-safe would this list really make the rest of us?

Several studies conducted over the years have questioned the effectiveness of such registries in preventing sex crimes, while other studies have challenged the validity of the recidivism rankings in assessing individuals’ propensity to repeat their crimes. Some studies have found that registries compel offenders to get treatment and behave themselves, while others have shown being on the list stresses out some offenders, drives them into hiding, discourages them from getting treatment and/or compels them to commit more crimes.

The registries do often allow police to keep better tabs on individuals with criminal backgrounds, which could lead to quicker identification of suspects in new crimes. But knowing someone's address doesn't mean their whereabouts is known 24 hours a day, to police or potential victims.

There's also the question of whether a person should be subject to registration after they've served their sentence. Even when a person is off the list, either by timing out or having their conviction overturned, the Internet would make their listing a permanent one.

For police and certain victims of violence, having a registry of violent offenders could provide a useful tool. So it's probably not a bad thing for the Legislature to set up.

But for most of us, it might make us feel like we're a little safer. But actually, we're all still just as safe ... and all still just as vulnerable.

NY - Bill would tighten sex offender rules

Original Article

05/10/2014

Legislation introduced by state Sen. Patrick Gallivan concerning sex offenders makes sense and should be approved by lawmakers. The bill would require the state to notify local municipalities and schools when a sex offender is transferred from a state facility to a community residence or program. The commissioner of the Office of People With Developmental Disabilities would be required to make the notifications no later than 10 days before the transfer takes place.

“The relocation of dangerous individuals to a residential neighborhood is always cause for concern. Local officials have a right to know about the transfer of sex offenders into a community program or residence in their community, so that they have time to properly address public concerns and security issues,” Sen. Gallivan said in a news release.

The bill, S7064, is co-sponsored by state Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer, and has been referred to the committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.

Such notification would go a long way toward easing concerns such as were raised when several developmentally disabled sex offenders were placed in group homes after the state facility where they had been staying was closed. People living near the state-owned group homes, in West Seneca and Scottsville, were caught off guard.

Notification is important. People do need to know when a convicted sex offender is living in their neighborhood. They also need to assess the level of danger that sex offender poses. Each convicted sex offender is evaluated and assigned a level. Factors taken into consideration include use of force, weapons, alcohol or drugs, the victim’s age, number of victims, assault or injury of the victim and relationship to the victim. Then a judgment is made according to how likely the offender is to repeat the behavior. Those at low risk of repeating the offense are assigned to Level 1; Level 2 is for those with moderate risk; Level 3 are those at high risk of re-offending and who present a threat to public safety.

Knowledge goes a long way toward easing fears and helping people deal appropriately with the situation. A Level 1 offender in the neighborhood is reason for caution, not panic. Sen. Gallivan’s bill would make sure people get the knowledge they need to keep everyone safe.

People should remember, however, that not every sex offender has been caught and conveniently labeled. Children need to be protected from known offenders, but they also need to be protected from offenders who aren’t yet known. In the end, there is no substitute for good parenting and precaution.

NY - Sex offender laws must be toughened

Phil Goldfeder

Original Article

Just another politician exploiting ex-offenders, fear, families and children to make a name for himself (See this video)? This is just a placebo to pacify people and lull them into a false sense of security. The city won't be any more safe. Not all ex-offenders harm children, and this is another blanket law that treats all ex-offenders as if they do. If a person is intent on committing a crime, this won't stop them, but the fact is, most sexual crimes occur in the victims own home and family, not at some park or school.

02/08/2014

In an effort to crack down on some of New York’s worst sex offenders, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Rockaway Park) said he will introduce legislation that would restrict them from residing within 500 feet or less from any public park with a playground.

“As a parent of two young children, I understand how critical it is that we create stronger laws to keep sexual predators out of areas where our children congregate and play,” Goldfeder said. “I drafted this new legislation to ensure that sex offenders stay out of our public parks and away from our children.”

The bill would fine tune current laws by forbidding level two and three sex offenders – which, according to the state, means individuals at a medium or high risk of re-offense – from living within 500 feet of a public park that has playground. The legislation, Goldfeder said, would close the offender loophole that currently exists and ensure that all parks where children commonly play remain off limits to those convicted of sex crimes.

Current state regulations restrict sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of parks that are attached to school buildings, but no regulation exists for parks that are not aligned with schools.

The legislation comes on the heels of Rockaway parents being outraged last month upon learning two convicted sex offenders moved into the same building on Beach 116th Street – which is situated further than 1,000 feet from the nearest school but is within a few hundred feet of the beach and public parks.

“On behalf of Rockaway parents, I applaud Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder for his quick action and response to our genuine concerns about the safety and wellbeing of our children,” said Irene Dougherty, Parent Teacher Association co-president of the belle Harbor School.

Dorothy McCloskey, director of the Friends of Charles Park, too threw her support behind Goldfeder’s legislation.

“As an advocate for the rebuilding and development of Frank Charles Park, as well as a mother and grandmother living in the community, I believe it is not only important to make our parks beautiful, but also to make them safe and secure from adults who prey upon our defenseless children,” McCloskey said.

Goldfeder has sponsored sex offender legislation in the past, including a bill signed in 2012 that requires registered high-level sex offenders to keep their photos for the online offender registry up to date by having their photo taken every 90 days.

“I will fight to ensure our families and children live in a safe community and that parents have the peace of mind they deserve,” Goldfeder said.

NY - Orange County Republican leader Robert Krahulik asked to resign over lewd photos

Robert Krahulik

Original Article

02/04/2014

By KENNETH LOVETT

ALBANY - Call it the Anthony Weiner story — upstate edition.

The Orange County Republican Party chairman is being asked to resign after allegedly texting lewd pictures of himself to his girlfriend’s female pal.

On Tuesday, four officers of the Orange County Republican Committee called on Robert Krahulik to step down.

Sources say Krahulik, 48, a lawyer and a trustee of the county community college, sent the naughty pictures of his anatomy to a friend of the beautiful 26-year-old woman he was dating.

“It’s the same problem that Anthony Weiner had,” one source told the Daily News — referring to the ex-congressman caught sexting lewd pictures to women.

The controversy over Krahulik erupted last week when sources said his girlfriend briefly posted the pictures and a message to the creepy lothario on Facebook.

“I just want people to know it’s probably a really good idea if you are in politics to take pictures of your weewee and send it to lots of girls,” the sarcastic message, obtained by The News, said.

“That’s what you do in a committed relationship with a beautiful and sophisticated girl. Busted.” She ended with three hashtags: “creep,” “dumbass” and “triflingmen.”

The woman told the Times Herald-Record of Middletown she was writing about Krahulik.

But he told The News: “Just because it’s posted on Facebook doesn’t make it true.”

He said he and the woman broke up about a week ago. “I was dating a woman and I ended the relationship,” he said. “Clearly, she is not happy about it.”

Krahulik, who said he separated from his wife six years ago, refused to say whether he sent racy photos to a woman. “I’d have to see the photos, I have no idea,” he said. “This involves my private relationship. I fail to see how it’s the business of the Daily News. I’m not a public official.”

Krahulik, who has only been Orange County GOP chairman for a few months, said his political opponents were trying to embarrass him. “It’s unfortunate they would stoop to this level. At this point, they are embarrassing themselves.”

But a high-level area Republican said it’s expected Krahulik will be gone this week.

In calling for his ouster, the Republican officers said that “although all of the facts are not yet known, we can state without hesitation that we do not condone inappropriate behavior toward women under any circumstances.”

DE - Sex offender restrictions ineffective

Original Article

01/31/2014

By Paul Smith

Regarding sex offender residency restrictions:

Patty Wetterling, whose son Jacob was kidnapped and never found, posted the following statement on the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center website: “Because residency restrictions have been shown to be ineffective at preventing harm to children, and may indeed actually increase the risks to kids, the JWRC does not support residency restriction laws.”

In 2009, the Broward County Florida Board of County Commissioners Sexual Offender and Sexual Predator Residence Task Force reported they had reviewed available research about the effectiveness of residence restrictions and “found no empirical evidence to indicate that these laws achieve their intended goals of preventing abuse, protecting children or reducing reoffending.”

The Minnesota DOC analyzed 224 sex offenders released from Minnesota prisons between 1990 and 2002 who were re-incarcerated for a sex offense prior to January 1, 2006. There were only two where the offender contacted a juvenile victim at a park, and both offenders lived more than 10 miles away. They concluded that not one of the offenses would have been affected by any residency restriction.

In 2007, the Kansas Sex Offender Policy Board reported to the legislature: “Although resident restrictions appear to have strong public support, the Board found no evidence to support its efficacy.” Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz stated: “Residence restrictions don’t contribute to public safety. In fact, the consensus of experts in the field of sex offender management supported by available research and experience indicates they do just the opposite. Right now, it appears that the best alternatives are in the form of community wide education and training regarding steps that can be taken to educate parents . . .”

The California Sex Offender Management Board reported that 90% of people convicted of a sex crime have not been convicted of any sex crime before. The University at Albany [New York] School of Criminal Justice reviewed sex crime arrest records from the period 1984 through 2004 and found that more than 95% of those arrested had no prior convictions for any sex crime. More than 9 of every 10 who will harm a child cannot be on any registry or regulated by your law. They feel safer though and likely won’t be as vigilant.

I know you are concerned for the welfare of Milton’s citizens, but your ignorance of the realities and facts about sex offenders and residency restrictions threatens to place them at greater risk.

NY - Sixteen, naïve and wrongfully convicted

Jeffrey Deskovic

Original Article

01/28/2014

Criminal justice advocate and exoneree Jeffrey Deskovic spoke at St. Thomas last week

In 1989, in Peekskill, New York, 16-year-old Jeffrey Deskovic was walking to school when he was stopped by a police car. He was wanted for questioning in the case of his raped and murdered classmate, 15-year-old Angela Correa. While his other classmates were in school mourning the girl’s loss, Deskovic sat in a small room for seven and a half hours. He had no food, no access to relatives and no attorney present. The police attached him to a polygraph machine with one goal in mind—to get Deskovic to confess to the murder by the end of the interrogation, regardless of his innocence. After feeding him copious amounts of caffeine to raise his pulse, playing good cop bad cop and using every scare tactic in the book, Deskovic was in a fetal position on the floor. If he confessed, they told him, he’d be set free and get to go home to his mother and grandmother.

“Being young, naïve, frightened, 16-years-old, not thinking about the long term implications, I took up their offer,” Deskovic told an overflowing auditorium at St. Thomas University last Tuesday night.

It wasn’t until 2006, after serving 16 years in prison, Deskovic was finally set free.

Since his release, he has been an integral part of successfully resisting the restoration of capital punishment in New York, delivered over 100 speeches across the United States and obtained his master’s degree in criminology.

Most recently, he founded the Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice, which seeks legislative changes to prevent wrongful convictions, works to exonerate the wrongfully convicted and helps exonerees in their reintegration into society.

“What is it that can be learned about the causes of wrongful conviction and the reforms?” Deskovic asked the audience full of criminology students. “What is it that my case illustrates?”

Read the rest of the article

NY - Senator Charles Schumer passes another useless law to help himself look good

Original Article

Just another pointless law in the name of a dead child to help someone else look good! You don't need another law when stuff is already available for it (Here & Here)! Reminds me of this South Park episode. And by the looks of the comments the sheeple are falling for it, as usual! Bahhhhh!

01/27/2014

NEW YORK (MYFOXNY) - Alex Siri, 15, has autism and is considered nonverbal. Alex uses an iPad program to let others know what he wants or how he is feeling. Alex's father is hoping his son will also benefit from a new bill proposed by Sen. Charles Schumer. If passed, Avonte's Law would use federal money to pay for a voluntary program to help police locate missing at-risk autistic children using GPS tracking devices.
- Federal money is tax payer money, and are you going to purchase and supply every single child in the state with a GPS device?  Yep, useless laws like this is why the country is going broke!

The proposal is named for Avonte Oquendo. The 14-year-old boy ran away from his Long Island City, Queens, school in October and was found dead earlier this month in the East River. Schumer made the announcement Sunday with Avonte's mother by his side. Schumer said it would be similar to a federal program that tracks seniors with Alzheimer's disease.
- Again, another useless law!

Just weeks before Avonte disappeared, Alex wandered away from his Upper East Side apartment. Luckily, he was quickly found.

Project Lifesaver is a similar private program already doing this for at people at risk.

"If the person goes wandering, each bracelet has a separate frequency in it, a radio frequency, they can tune their receivers, which they've been trained to use, go into an area, locate that radio signal, track to the person, locate them, and bring them back home," Gene Saunders, the CEO and founder of Project Lifesaver International, told Fox 5 via Skype.
- Like home security systems, this is just a way for companies to exploit people and fear to make money!

Until Alex gets such a device, his dad has tagged his shoes with his name and address and hopes Alex never needs that again.

More than 200 mourners attended Avonte's funeral Saturday.

Investigators are still trying to determine how he died.

NY - Bill seeks to strengthen public lewdness laws

Original Article

01/27/2014

By TIFFANY BROOKS

After three incidences at a Rockland County shopping mall, including one in which a man exposed himself to two young children, Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski, D – New City, has introduced a bill that will strengthen public lewdness penalties.

The bill establishes two new crimes with provisions for sex offender registration. Public lewdness in the second degree includes "intent of sexual gratification," a class A misdemeanor, and public lewdness in the first degree will punish repeat offenders who prey on victims under the age of 14 — a class E felony that will require guilty persons to register as sex offenders. The bill would also make convictions of public lewdness in the first or second degree permanently disqualify offenders from becoming bus drivers.

The legislation was introduced in response to recent "troubling" incidents at the Palisades Mall where individuals have exposed themselves in a disturbing manner to children, Zebrowski said.

"These unsettling incidents highlight a weakness in our laws where horrendous crimes are treated with minor consequences," Zebrowski said. "This is not a crime where I think someone is making a mistake. We needed to update this law across the state but in Clarkstown especially."

In the past six months Clarkstown police have had numerous incidents regarding public lewdness, two of which included repeat offender individuals.

"As the public lewdness law stands now, it is a more serious crime to steal a soda from a grocery store than it is to expose yourself to a child," said Clarkstown Detective John Fredericks.

NY - Mount Pleasant police chief (Brian Fanelli) faces child-porn charges

Brian Fanelli

Original Article

01/23/2014

By RICHARD LIEBSON, ERIK SHILLING, SHAWN COHEN and LEE HIGGINS

Mount Pleasant Police Chief Brian Fanelli, accused Thursday of possessing child pornography, told federal investigators his alleged habit began when he was researching material for school classes he was teaching about the dangers of sexual abuse, according to papers filed in U.S. District Court in White Plains.

“But shortly thereafter (Fanelli) began viewing child pornography for personal interest,” the 10-page complaint says.

Fanelli was freed on $50,000 bond after appearing in federal court on child-pornography charges late Thursday, hours after federal agents raided his Mahopac home and seized computers alleged to contain more than 120 files of children as young as 7 engaging in sex acts.

The complaint describes graphic, sometimes incestuous sexual activities so disturbing that The Journal News has chosen not to post the documents on lohud.com. Fanelli is accused of downloading the files to his computer and sharing them with others, including undercover federal agents.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the case “disturbing and sad,” saying the police chief is accused of breaking a law “designed to protect the youngest and most vulnerable of our population from vile exploitation.”

Fanelli, whose wife was in the courtroom, did not enter a plea to a charge of possession of child pornography. The crime is alleged to have occurred between October and January, during which time he was elevated to chief.

A longtime digital whiz at the department, Fanelli, who has two grown children, was well-liked among other officers and heavily involved with the community. He taught fifth-graders at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish school in Shrub Oak, where he spoke to hundreds of students yearly about the dangers of sexual abuse, according to a letter posted on the parish’s website.

Shortly after 4 p.m., he was led into the courtroom by U.S. marshals. Pouring himself a glass of water, he accidentally spilled some on the defense table and laughed with his lawyer, federal defender Susanne Brody, as she brought him towels to clean it up.

Fanelli told U.S. Magistrate Lisa Margaret Smith that he takes Lipitor and another prescription medication but that they did not affect his ability to understand the proceedings.

“I am quite clear,” he told the judge.

Before adjourning the case until Feb. 19, Smith told the chief that he could not use computers or cellphones and could not be in the presence of minors without supervision. He is to be monitored electronically and can leave his home only for medical appointments, visits to his lawyer, church services and for work.

If convicted, Fanelli faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

Town Supervisor Joan Maybury called the news “very disturbing” and said Fanelli has been suspended with pay in accordance with his contract. She said she most likely will appoint one of the department’s two lieutenants as acting chief.

U.S. Homeland Security agents notified Maybury of Fanelli’s arrest about 12:15 p.m., telling her that he would be charged with trafficking in child pornography, she said. Maybury said agents turned Fanelli’s gun and badge over to Mount Pleasant police and that a federal technician was inspecting the computer in his office.

No one was home Thursday afternoon at Fanelli’s raised ranch on Archer Road in Mahopac Falls, a quiet neighborhood of single-family homes near the Westchester border.

About 8:30 a.m. Thursday, neighbors saw a group of cars and vans pull up in front of Fanelli’s house. At least two agents wore helmets and SWAT gear, though Fanelli was arrested without incident, neighbors said.

Sgt. Eric Anttila of Mount Pleasant police had no comment; other officers said they were shocked by the news.

“I’m still trying to get information myself,” Lt. Robert Miliambro said.

The arrest was disturbing to town residents, though several said they weren’t surprised a police chief had been implicated.

“You hear so many things today — look at how many officials are caught with their hand in the cookie jar,” said John Mangeri, who has lived in Mount Pleasant for 15 years.

Dennis Adisson, 50, a White Plains resident who works in a school in Mount Pleasant, said that as a police chief, Fanelli should know better.

“It’s sad, it’s embarrassing, it’s sickening,” he said. “It’s all of those things wrapped in one.”

Fanelli, 54, a native of Valhalla, was hired by the town in November 1981. He rose to the rank of lieutenant before being appointed chief in November, just the sixth police chief in the town’s history. Fanelli receives an annual salary of $135,518.

A member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton for decades, the church website says Fanelli spoke to around 1,000 parish schoolchildren in 2012 and again in October, warning younger children to stay safe from sexual abuse and older students to beware of “the pitfalls of social media devices, games and computer applications.”

“He has overseen numerous criminal investigations involving sexual abuse,” according to a letter on the website written by Sara Koshofer, the parish’s religious education coordinator.

Fanelli has been best known most recently for his involvement in the fatal shooting of Pace University student Danroy Henry Jr. In January 2013, a lawyer for Henry’s family accused Fanelli and former Mount Pleasant police Chief Louis Alagno of covering up crucial details of the incident.

Fanelli denied any coverup, and the Henry family’s lawsuit is ongoing in the same courthouse where Fanelli was arraigned Thursday.

“Justice for DJ,” a pro-DJ Henry Facebook page, was quick to comment on Fanelli’s arrest. “Same person that lied to us the night DJ was killed, the same person that changed Ronald Beckley’s statements, the same person that promised he would get to the truth! I hope he likes his jumpsuit! The walls are crumbling!” said a post Thursday.

Fanelli, a 1977 graduate of Valhalla High School, led the department’s successful bid for state accreditation in 1998. He was instrumental in computerizing the department’s records and in 1999 introduced an email alert system to disseminate crime and emergency information to residents.

Staff writers Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, Jonathan Bandler, Terence Corcoran and Hoa Nguyen contributed to this report.

NY - Controversial homeless shelter could house sex offenders

Vacant warehouse

Original Article

10/07/2013

By IRVING DEJOHN

The more they learn, the more they hate it.

Convicted sex offenders could be among the inhabitants of a homeless shelter that’s being proposed in Glendale, and civic leaders have been even more fired up since they made that discovery last week.

The revelation came after Samaritan Village — the Queens-based group that wants to convert a vacant warehouse on Cooper Ave. into a 125-family shelter — outlined their plans in a letter to Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi.

“[City Department of Homeless Services] has both a mandate and obligation to provide shelter to any eligible homeless person or family, regardless or criminal background,” the group wrote to Hevesi, in response to a question as to whether the population would include felons and sexual deviants. “The Sex Offender Registration Act does not restrict where a sex offender may live.”

The proposed shelter has drawn unanimous opposition among the area’s elected officials and civic leaders — and the details left many of them aghast.

“This is frightening,” said Kathy Masi, of the Glendale Civic Association. “It’s walking distance within two schools.”

Samaritan Village said it would maintain 24-hour security, a 9 p.m. curfew and a strict no-visitors policy.

“It sounds like they’re anticipating a problem,” said Masi.

Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) told the Daily News that he opposes the plan.

Michael Wilner, who owns the property and is working with Samaritan Village, refused to discuss the residents’ concerns and hung up on a reporter.

Elizabeth Crowley

City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley said she introduced two different entrepreneurs to Wilner, but he balked at both of their offers to rent the property.

“For them to embark on this project makes no sense,” said Crowley (D-Middle Village).

Crowley predicted that the cost of getting the one-time factory cleaned up — which she said would range in the “tens of millions” — would eventually sink the proposal.

“It’s clearly irresponsible, and that’s why it’s not going to happen,” she said.

The city Department of Homeless Services is reviewing the project, but an official declined comment. The agency has the authority to approve or reject the proposal.

Denaul Jenkins II, a manager at the nearby Artistic Stitch Sports Complex, said the plan doesn’t make sense for the quaint Queens neighborhood.

“This is a family-oriented neighborhood,” he said. “I feel sorry for the people who have lived in this area for generations, because the homeless shelter will reduce the value of their property.”

See Also:

• Counties face challenge of housing sex offenders

NY - Counties face challenge of housing sex offenders

Original Article

10/07/2013

By Jeremiah Horrigan

They're destitute, without jobs or much hope of securing one. They're homeless and without much hope of finding one.

They're the people no one wants to employ or live near: level 2 and level 3 sex offenders — men and women who are legally required to report their presence to local authorities for the rest of their lives.

When they're released from prison, or move from another area, it falls to county Social Services departments to place them. Frequently, they wind up in small, family-run motels and boarding houses. And they have to report that address to authorities or face penalties, including arrest.

In the past year alone, 14 sex offenders — including 10 in Liberty in July — have been picked up for failing to register where they live, as required.

Their sometimes-clustered presence in some of the region's motels and boarding homes has prompted fear, anger and lawsuits in communities across the region, the state and the country.

And nowhere in the mid-Hudson has the outcry of late been louder than in the Town of Wawarsing in Ulster County.

Emotional, legal issues tangle

Wawarsing comprises five hamlets and the Village of Ellenville. According to the latest figures available from the state's Public Registry of Sex Offenders, there are currently 29 level 2 and level 3 sex offenders living in those communities. Only the City of Kingston, with 37, has more registered sex offenders in Ulster County.

The tiny and very rural hamlet of Kerhonkson is home to 17 sex offenders, according to the registry. Six of those offenders now reside at the Colonial Motel on Route 209.

To town Supervisor Scott Carlsen, those numbers strongly suggest that something's out of whack with the way indigent sex offenders are housed in the county.

Carlsen is recently retired from a career as an administrator in the state's correctional system, including years as a counselor in several sexual offender programs.

Housing sexual offenders in rural communities like Kerhonkson, he said, isn't good for offenders nor the community.

"They (sexual offenders) don't have cars. In order to get the services they need, they have to bike or hitchhike. Even from a therapeutic model, it makes no sense to me."

And, he says, the situation only gets worse when sex offenders are allowed to congregate.
- Worse how?  Due to new crimes being committed (doubtful) or public hysteria?

"I'm unaware of any study of any treatment that it's a good thing to stick a dozen of these guys together in a single facility."
- And there is no study to show it's a bad thing either!  People think that ex-offenders living together that they are going to devise a mass molestation plan or something, which is so ridiculous.

But there is little legal recourse available. Some, like the Town of Wallkill, or Middletown or Village of Ellenville, have passed laws that limit sex offenders from living near schools, playgrounds and parks.

Following the village's lead, the Wawarsing Town Board implemented a statute a couple of years ago that limits to 30 the number of days a person may reside at a town motel. Three of the town's motels, Carlsen said, have abided by the law. But not, he said, the Colonial.

After the motel's compliance became a campaign issue in 2011, with Republican candidates claiming that 12 sex offenders were residing at the Colonial, owner Shahida Rizvi filed suit in federal court contending the statute prevents her from operating her business.
- You'd think people would see politicians for what they are by now.  Fear, children and ex-sex offenders are their scapegoats! They will use and exploit any issue to get elected or to look good to the sheeple of the country.

In a 31-page brief, Rizvi's lawyer Mark Stern argued that the town "fully intends to prevent (Rizvi) from operating her business through the mechanism of fines, criminal charges and criminal penalties."

Carlsen's anger only worsened when a convicted criminal — who was not a registered sex offender — was placed by county Social Services at the Colonial and arrested and charged with raping a woman last August.

Carlsen called the incident "nothing short of an outrage and criminal" on the part of Ulster County Social Services.

He accused the departments of violating the town's statute.

Michael Iapoce, director of the county's Social Services Department, sees the situation very differently.

Homelessness a key problem

Every county in the state must find housing for any individual, regardless of their criminal history, if they say they are homeless.

As far as Iapoce is concerned, that's the bottom line when his Social Services Department deals with homeless people.

And while his department has taken a lot of heat for housing indigent sex offenders, he said there's a public "misperception" that Social Services has more authority and responsibility than it actually does.
- If you stop the insanity then maybe ex-offenders can get a job and live somewhere else, but the very laws the idiotic politicians are passing is what is causing all these problems, not the ex-offenders!

Sex offenders are emerging from a highly structured prison environment, he said; the services they require are determined by the county's Probation Department and state Department of Corrections.

Marijane Knudsen, the department's director of economic support, said that prisoners being released into communities — especially sex offenders — need better discharge plans to guide their re-introduction to society.

She also said there are larger issues, including the need for better housing for anyone who needs it.

"No one deserves to live in a hotel. Everyone should have access to permanent, safe housing," she said.

That need, said Nancy Schmidt, can be a pivotal aspect of what she called "an age-old problem."

Lack of jobs compounds issue

Schmidt is deputy director of the county's probation department. The lack of stable housing and job opportunities for sex offenders, she said, are the two biggest factors affecting the successful integration of an indigent offender into society.

Housing availability are sometimes prohibited by the very laws that are aimed at protecting children from predators, such as laws that restrict sex offenders from living near schools, playgrounds and parks.

In a city like Kingston, Schmidt said, that reduces the potential housing choices considerably. Rural, isolated locations like Kerhonkson are at least less likely to pose a threat to children living nearby.

And yes, she said, while Social Services is responsible for housing homeless sex offenders, there are times when the department will allow housing sex offenders in a facility with other offenders.

Sometimes, it's a better choice than having an offender move from "couch to couch" or live in a car or a tent, where supervision is more difficult and the threat of a recurrence could be increased.

"Without employment or stable housing, there's a higher risk of a return," she said.

And with a sigh, she summarized the situation in two words:

"It's tough."
- Not really!  Get rid of the residency restrictions and take the registry offline, then many can integrate back into society, get a job, home and move on with their lives.

See Also:

• Controversial homeless shelter could house sex offenders

NY - Federal appeals court finds penile stimulation test 'invasive' in sex offender case

Original Article

10/03/2013

By LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK - Subjecting a sex offender who is no longer imprisoned to "extraordinarily invasive" penile stimulation testing risks violating the premise that even convicts retain their humanity, a federal appeals court said Thursday.

The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (PDF) in Manhattan frees former police officer David McLaurin of a requirement that he submit to penile plethysmography (Wikipedia), a test in which a man's erectile responses are measured as he is shown sexually stimulating images.

An all-male three-judge appeals panel said it saw a "clear distinction" between penis measurement and other conditions of supervised release, including restrictions on where sex offenders may live, their interactions with children and their access to pornographic material.

"But we see no reasonable connection between fluctuating penis size and public protection — certainly none strong enough to survive the careful scrutiny that we give to unusual or severe conditions of supervised release," the court wrote of the conditions imposed after someone completes a prison sentence. "A person, even if convicted of a crime, retains his humanity."

McLaurin, 48, challenged the requirement after a Vermont judge sentenced him to 15 months in prison, to be followed by a treatment program that could include the testing, because McLaurin failed to fill out paperwork required by sex offenders. McLaurin had notified authorities that he would be working as a chef at a Putney, Vermont, inn in 2011, but he later lost the job and went to the Birmingham, Alabama, area, where he was arrested. He was returned to Vermont to face charges and was released from prison in November.

He was required to register as a sex offender because he was convicted more than a decade ago of producing child pornography for photographing a topless 13-year-old girl who told authorities she had requested a photo shoot to help her modeling career, the court said.

A Vermont federal judge who concluded McLaurin was "unlikely to reoffend again" had said it was "standard" to include a test in which a man's erectile responses are measured as he is shown sexually stimulating images.

The appeals panel said the government had cited instances when Vermont judges had ordered the procedure, but the court added that judges in New York and Connecticut within the 2nd Circuit had not recently imposed such conditions and that the probation office in Vermont has ceased recommending it.

The appeals court said it seemed "odd" to try to deter someone from committing sex crimes by showing him depictions of sex.

"We hold that this extraordinarily invasive condition is unjustified, is not reasonably related to the statutory goals of sentencing, and violates McLaurin's right to substantive due process," it said. The court found the testing "is unduly intrusive and bears insufficient relation to correctional or medical treatment, the protection of the public or deterrence of a crime."

McLaurin's public defender, Steven L. Barth, said he was pleased with the ruling.

"Mr. McLaurin and the Federal Defender Office felt strongly that the invasive plethysmograph testing condition was unwarranted and unconstitutional," he said.

Prosecutors did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

The appeals court did not hide its skepticism about the two- to three-hour test, in which a man's penis is attached to a pressure-sensitive device known as a plethysmograph. The apparatus measures minute changes in blood flow and erection size as the subject views pornographic images or videos.

The judges flatly rejected government arguments that the procedure amounted to "treatment" for sex offenders, saying prosecutors offered no evidence "that this exceedingly intrusive procedure has any therapeutic benefit, and none is apparent to us."

It cited a ruling similar to its own by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that found the test's accuracy and reliability "have been severely questioned."

The 2nd Circuit said even if the test were accurate, "the goal of correctional treatment during supervised release is properly directed at conduct, not at daydreaming."

The procedure "inflicts the obviously substantial humiliation of having the size and rigidity of one's penis measured and monitored by the government under the threat of incarceration for a failure to fully cooperate," the 2nd Circuit judges wrote.

As the court noted, the procedure was developed by Czech psychiatrist Kurt Freund as a means to study sexual deviance and it was at one time used by the Czech government to identify and "cure" homosexuals.

The court wrote: "Whether the device was 'successful' in this regard is not reflected in the record."

NY - Sex Offenders and Social Media in New York State

Our Comments:
The law is lumping all ex-sex offenders into one group, the worst of the worse, and that is why it's unconstitutional. Probation / parole can already set guidelines on who can do what, so this is just another un-needed law made by some politician who is exploiting fear, children and ex-sex offenders to help their own careers.

It is time for the people who took oaths to defend the Constitution, to do so!!!!!

And we are also sick and tired of the biased media, who are suppose to report all the facts, and not their own personal hate and biasness, using the term sex offender, child molester, pedophile and predator as if they are all the same. THEY ARE NOT! So stop misusing the terms. It's reporting like this why the hysteria is still going strong, but maybe that is your goal in the first place?

Video Description:
Criminal Defense Attorney Thomas Carr of Albany, NY discusses New York State laws pertaining to Sex Offenders and Social Media.

A federal judge in Chicago said it is unconstitutional for states to ban all sex offenders from social media sites. The ruling came after an Indiana sex offender who was no longer on probation challenged a state law.

It was a very, very broad ban, if you were a sex offender you couldnt register and you couldn't be on Facebook, said Thomas Carr, a partner with Tully Rinkey PLLC.

In 2008, New York enacted the Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP). Authorities have since used provisions to take thousands of sex offenders offline. E-STOP requires offenders to register their email addresses, screen names and social media accounts with the state. The information is then provided to social media sites that request the data. New York only prohibits some sex offenders from using the websites as part of probation requirements.

More than two dozen social media websites, including Facebook, ban sex offenders as part of their Terms of Service. The federal ruling does not apply to the sites because they are private companies.

Some sites do not have an outright ban on sex offenders and do not cross-check the information on the state database with their usernames, which is why experts continually suggest parents take steps at home to monitor computer, gaming and smartphone use.

Were always concerned about safety for kids and this is concerning. it really highlights and makes it more important for a parent to be involved with the kid's online presence, said Andy Gliplin, Director of Program Services at CAPTAIN Youth and Family Services. Really take advantage of the parental controls that are out there with a lot of the sites, gaming consoles, and different access points to the internet.

NY - How 'Stop and Frisk' Is Too Often a Sexual Assault by Cops on Teenagers in Targeted NYC Neighborhoods

Original Article

This is exactly what happens when you let politicians get away with stomping on someone else's rights.  Eventually your rights will also be stomped on.

01/21/2013

By Kristen Gwynne

Teenagers are harassed and violated in ways you can't imagine.

Imagine you're 17 years old. A man with a gun and a badge has stopped you on the street and jammed his hand inside your pants, touching your penis. The girl you have a crush on is watching from nearby. That's the reality for many young men of color in New York City.

Stop-and-frisk is the controversial policing tactic in which street cops looking for weapons stop and pat down young men. Discussions of this policy in the media most often consist of alarming stats, like what percent of men targeted are black and brown ( 87% in New York) or the breach of constitutional rights the searches entail. But the reality on the ground is far less abstract. The policy amounts to a constant disruption of the lives of hundreds of thousands of young black and brown men. It's a belittling experience that could be better described as sexual assault.

I've reported on stop and frisk for two years, and in that time I've talked to young men who have experienced stop-and-frisk, and the stories they tell are harrowing. A black teenager in Bedford-Stuyvesant described how embarrassed he was to have “old ladies” watch as his pants landed around his ankles while police searched him. A 17-year-old in the Bronx explained that police, “They go in my pants. You’re not supposed to go in my pants.” Being touched by a female police officer can be especially upsetting for adolescent males. “It’s annoying because it doesn’t matter what kind of cop it is, female or male, they’re gonna frisk you. If you say something to the female about it, the female says something to you like ‘What? I can do what I want.' And they still frisk you. You can’t say sexual harassment, nothing,” 18-year-old South Bronx resident Garnell told me last year, adding, “And they go hard, grabbing stuff they’re not supposed to.”

Read the entire article here

NY - Families of Registered Sex Offenders: “Remove Misleading Statistics from Web”

Original Article

01/24/2013

Family Members of Registered Sex Offenders Call on Parents for Megan’s Law to remove misleading statistics from their website

Long Island - USA FAIR, Inc., a national advocacy organization formed by the family members of people required to register with the sex offender registry, today publicly urged Parents for Megan’s Law Executive Director Laura Ahern to take down misleading statistics from their website that reinforces the myth of high sex offender recidivism.

“According to the U.S. Justice Department and numerous other agencies and institutions that have researched recidivism (PDF), sexual offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rates in the criminal justice system. Yet, the myth of high sex offender recidivism has formed the foundational falsehood for the never-endng sanctions imposed on law abiding former offenders through the sex offender registry”, said Shana Rowan, Executive Director of USA FAIR.

“While we applaud Parents for Megan’s Law for their mission to protect children, as an entity that is funded in part with public funds, they have an obligation to not mislead the public through the misuse of statistics, such as presenting a study of a sub-set of dangerous recidivists and presenting those findings as representative of the entire population of former sex offenders,” said Rowan.

In a letter sent to Parents for Megan’s Law (PDF) on December 6, 2012, USA FAIR raised objections to statements made on their website, including claims that the “typical” offender against children had committed an average of 280 crimes and has between 360 and 380 victims in his lifetime. USA FAIR pointed out that the sample of this study was not “typical” of former offenders and that even among this subset of high-risk offenders, a small percentage of the subjects were responsible for a disproportionately high number of offenses, which significantly skewed the “average” numbers. In fact, according to Rowan, “When you look at the median numbers of this very study it reveals that half of the subjects committed four or fewer offenses and had three or fewer victims. So even the “typical” subject of this study did not have the number of victims that Parents for Megan’s Law claims. And while three victims is three too many, it is a far cry from the 360 to 380 that their website presents.”

Rowan announced that USA FAIR decided today to go public with its request to Parents for Megan’s Law to correct their website because following several phone calls and emails by Rowan to Ahern to follow-up on the December 6th letter, there has been no response. “Ms. Ahern has every right to disagree with USA FAIR on policy issues, but as long as she takes public money she should present this important issue with facts and not false fears,” said Rowan.

USA FAIR has made shining the light on the myth of high sex offender recidivism one of its top goals for 2013. A 2010 survey by the Center for Sex Offender Management of the U.S. Department of Justice found that 72% of Americans believe that the sex crime recidivism rates are 50% or higher, with a third believing it is more than 75%. Only 3% believe it is less than 25% – even though actual recidivism rates are considerably below 25%. New studies are constantly confirming low recidivism, with the latest being released last month showing a recidivism rate in four states of 10% after 10 years, with rates dropping sharply with years of offense-free tenure in the community. (https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/240099.pdf)

“As the loved-ones of people who are required to register, we know that the vast majority of former sex offenders are law abiding citizens today who are just trying to rebuild their lives and be good providers for their families. Once the myth of high sex offender recidivim is firmly dicredited, it will allow us to end our one-size-fits-all approach to sex offender laws and focus our policies on targeting the truly dangerous,” concluded Rowan.

NY - Bellone Pledges to Boot Sex Offender Trailers By 'End Of Year'

Original Article

09/26/2012

By Lisa Finn

Suffolk County Executive vows to keep his promise to have two controversial homeless sex offender trailers gone by January.

Two contentious sex offender trailers that have had residents outraged over their placement in Riverside and Westhampton since 2007 will be gone by the end of the year, according to Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.

"I remain committed to removing the trailers by the end of the year," Bellone said Wednesday morning.

Bellone's statement comes after Southampton officials vowed to keep fighting to overturn a recent State Supreme Court decision that dismissed the town's lawsuit involving the trailers.

"The county executive has said he's going to get rid of the trailers by the end of the year and I'm very happy about that," said Suffolk County Legislator Ed Romaine. "It's good news. I just hope that it's true."

"We will be holding his feet to the fire," Romaine added. "This has been a long, long fight in which Riverhead, specifically, has been victimized."
- As well as the ex-offenders you are exploiting and turning it into a political issue!

Although the trailer is technically located in the parking lot of the county jail in Riverside, which is located in Southampton Town, Romaine said the homeless sex offenders have "interacted with Riverhead residents in a host of different ways, and we'd like to see that change. You don't want those people walking around town."
- Yeah, God forbid, we don't want these ex-offenders talking with anybody, they might molest us!

Romaine said he and Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman sponsored a resolution enabling the county to contract with Community Housing Innovations, Inc., to build scattered site housing for homeless sex offenders under a new plan.
- What difference does it make?  If you idiots are forcing them from a parking lot on jail property, then where are they going to be able to house them without you doing the same thing?

"I was told that none of that housing would be located in my district," Romaine said. Romaine's district includes Riverhead, the North Fork, Shelter Island and parts of Brookhaven Town.
- Maybe not yours, but someone else's, so like usual, you are just pushing the problem off to someone else, but hey, that's politics!

The scattered site housing, Romaine added, would provide homeless sex offenders with "decent living conditions," including showers and cooking facilities; some individuals, he said, are currently "forced to go out" for meals and other services that the trailers don't provide.
- Yeah right, so would the place you are protesting now!

In a press conference earlier this year in Southampton, Bellone pledged to have the trailers removed.

Romaine said he was hopeful that the county executive has been working on the scattered site plan he and Schneiderman introduced, to put an end to the sex offender trailer issue that has residents crying out in Riverside and Westhampton over an unfair burden they say has been shouldered by their communities.
- No matter where these modern day lepers are forced to live, people will always cry!

Southampton Town, Romaine said, lost its lawsuit on technical reasons, "not on the law itself or the justice involved. So it becomes more important now for the county executive to keep his word."

If the trailers are not gone by January 1, Romaine said Bellone will have to account for why "it did not happen, in light of his promise."
- As Winston Churchill once said "Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen."

Schneiderman, who said he was unable to comment on Southampton Town's lawsuit, since it involved the county, said he had spoken with Bellone a few weeks ago.

Schneiderman said he had heard that a new, larger trailer in Westhampton was holding more than the eight sex offenders that had been agreed upon; 14 have been sited there at one time, he said. When he called Greg Blass, the commissioner of the county Department of Social Services, he said Blass told him, technically, they were able to site 18 homeless sex offenders at the Westhampton facility.

"I called Steve Bellone, and I was really livid," Schneiderman said. "He didn't know the capacity at the trailer had increased. He told me, 'Jay, I will have those trailers closed by the end of the year. You have my word.'"

Schneiderman added, "In my business, your word matters. If you make a commitment and your break a commitment, the value of your word goes to zero."
- It's politics, is their word worth anything in the first place?

And, Schneiderman added, if January comes and the trailers are still sited in Riverside and Westhampton, "There's going to be a real problem."

NY - Graduate Student at New York University's School of Journalism seeks former sex offenders for research project

Courtesy of eAdvocate

09/24/2012

via e-mail request from CURE.

Tracy Levy is currently doing research for a long form article on the topic of people who have been convicted of sexual offenses and the process they go through when reintegrating back in to society.

For this article, Tracy is hoping to meet with people in this community as well as the people who work with them. This would include people who have been convicted of a sexual offense, along with therapists, social workers, defense attorneys as well as people in CURE who advocate on behalf of this community.

Tracy would like to interview these people about the obstacles that convicted sex offenders face after they have served their sentence, specifically sex offender registries and the restrictions on housing and jobs and how these issues intersect with human rights and the criminal justice system in the US.

If you could forward this information to people in the New York area who may be interested in speaking about this, Tracy would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely,
Tracy Levy
Hunt622@aol.com

NY - State Supreme Court Dismisses Town's Sex Offender Trailer Lawsuit

Original Article

09/21/2012

By Lisa Finn

The long-simmering controversy surrounding two homeless sex offender trailers sited in Riverside and Westhampton ignited again on Friday.

The Southampton Town Board expressed outrage after news that the appellate division, second department of the New York State Supreme Court overturned a Suffolk County Supreme Court judge's decision — and dismissed the town's lawsuit against Suffolk County regarding the use and placement of the trailers.

The appellate division, in a unanimous decision, ruled that Southampton Town had only four months from the initial installation of each of the trailers to file the lawsuit.

For years, town residents have rallied to voice their anger at what they say is an unfair burden, housing the majority of the county's sex offenders at the two locations, at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility parking lot in Riverside and a Suffolk County police parcel in Westhampton.

Suffolk County Legislators Jay Schneiderman and Ed Romaine have long worked to resolve the situation and relieve constituents of what they say is an unfair burden.

The decision to dismiss the lawsuit comes only months after County Executive Steve Bellone held a press conference and promised a solution to the situation was on the horizon.

"Just a few months ago, the County Executive himself clearly stated his agreement that the current homeless sex offender trailer housing system is unfair and illogical, yet the court failed to examine the compelling merits of the case, and instead, based its decision on a poorly applied technicality," Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said. "My priority is to ensure the trailers are removed from their current locations. The town will continue to litigate as needed, but I sincerely hope the county will bring this relief first — and soon."

Southampton Town Councilwoman Christine Scalera said the bulk of sex offenders are housed in the trailers, no matter where they originally come from. "It is a county-wide problem that our residents should not bear alone. The town is now in the unenviable position that to preserve its rights, litigation must continue. It is unfair, it is unreasonable and it needs to be stopped now,” she said.

According to the Southampton town attorney's office, the goal of the lawsuit was to seek injunctive relief and prohibit violations of its local building and zoning codes by the use and installation of the trailers.

The appellate division, however, ruled that the case must be interpreted as an Article 78, a proceeding used to appeal a court's decision, or, in that instance, to challenge the county's determination to site the trailers — and said, as an Article 78, the minimum statute of four months to file applied. The town's lawsuit hit a roadblock because it was brought two years after the trailers were set up.

The town attorney's office and the Town Board have long said that when the trailers were initially set up, it was with the understanding that the placement was meant to be temporary — and that the location of the trailers would be rotated throughout the county; when the Town Board learned of actions to make the locations more permanent, action was commenced to pursue litigation, Town Board members say, within 24 hours.

“The County Executive came to Southampton in May of this year and pronounced that the county was moving to implement a new plan that included dispersing the population of homeless sex offenders to more fairly distribute the burden," Councilman Chris Nuzzi, a co-sponsor of the town’s resolution to commence litigation against the County in 2009, said. “As no action has been taken with the exception of the trailer being moved a few hundred yards in Westhampton, the town has no choice but to continue to compel the county to finally take the action promised.”

Councilwoman Bridget Fleming said the decision sets a bad precedent "and will only result in increased litigation costs to be shouldered by the taxpayers."

The Town Board, said Councilman Jim Malone, has authorized the town attorney's office to take "whatever steps are necessary to overturn this misguided decision. Southampton Town residents have been shouldering a disproportionate share of this housing concern for far too long and it's time for the county to honor its promises to share this burden across all ten towns, not just Southampton."

Bellone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.