Info box: Residents can find a complete list of sex offenders living in Westbrook on the city’s Web site or at the Public Safety Building and more detail about each offender on the Maine state Web site at www.maine.gov.
In keeping with new state regulations, the Westbrook police have published the names and addresses of 15 sex offenders living in the city. The department is in the process of adopting a new policy on how it will notify residents of sex offenders living in the town.
New state standards require every police department in Maine to adopt an official sex offender public notification policy by June 1 and train all its officers in the new policy by Jan. 1, 2007.
In accordance with the new policy, the Westbrook police have released the names of the lifetime registrants on the state sex offender list living in Westbrook. Lifetime registrants are people convicted of serious sex crimes who must register with local police and check in with them every 90 days for the rest their lifetimes in Maine.
“We don’t currently expect any problems from these individuals, but to make the community aware, we’re doing these notifications,” said Westbrook Police Chief Paul McCarthy. “It’s going to create some anxiety. We know that. But most of these people were convicted in the 1990s and have good records since then. None of these people has engaged in new criminal conduct.”
McCarthy said residents should not use the information on the list to target individuals convicted of sex crimes.
“These people have been convicted, served their jail time and finished probation and are free to live their lives,” said McCarthy. “While people should be vigilant, they should not be vigilantes.”
McCarthy said while the police and the city administration have already decided to do notify residents about lifetime registrants, they are still trying to decide whether to notify residents about lifetime transients, lifetime registrants that live outside of the city, but work in Westbrook. While no decision has been made about that, McCarthy said he felt those notifications would probably be made.
The department will have discretion on notifications for 10-year registrants, individuals charged with lesser sex offenses, and will most likely handle them on a case-by-case basis, said McCarthy.
For lifetime registrants, the city will post the names and addresses on the city’s website with a link to the state website to allow residents want to get more information about an individual, said McCarthy. Police will also go door-to-door with handouts to all residences within 500 feet of a registrant and make copies of documents on the offenders available at the Public Safety Building for inspection.
“We expect that there may be questions and, if necessary, we’ll hold a public forum,” said McCarthy. Police held a meeting earlier this month to inform residents about the new policy. Mayor Bruce Chuluda, who attended that meeting, said residents seemed to be satisfied that the city is keeping them informed.
“The police department is doing a better job at reaching out to the community,” he said. “Maybe we’ve kind of fallen down on that. We didn’t have a system.”
The city is required to have a policy by June 1 as part of the state’s effort to ensure uniformity among its police departments on notifications. In February, the Maine Chiefs of Police Association released a model policy to local police departments. Each department is required to adopt a policy by June 1 that follows the new standards, although it has discretion over its own policy.
“All in all, the policy is a very good policy,” said Phillip Harriman, president of the chiefs’ association board. “It protects the community, and it protects the rights of the offenders.”
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