Editorial: Simple advice on sex offenders

Published 8:31 am Friday, March 13, 2009

Sex offenders have to live somewhere. Sometimes, they live here, in our city. It doesn’t happen very often, and overall Albert Lea has been fortunate to have so few.

Sometimes, when a top-level sex offender moves to a city, residents clamor for new, more-restrictive regulations. The measures often result in the sex offenders giving up on the monitoring system. They move and go off the radar of the authorities.

In other words, new measures can be counter-effective. Look to Iowa for the nation’s best example of counterproductive sex-offender regulations.

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The best things to do when a sex offender comes to town are to let the existing laws work and to remain vigilant about watching your neighborhood.

In fact, you should be watchful of where you live whether there is a sex offender around or not. It’s just something good neighbors do for each other.