Sex offender data not yet up to date

Sex offender data is not directly available to members of the Boston University community, despite a federal law requiring universities and colleges to disclose information about sex criminals enrolled, working or volunteering at the schools.

The law, the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act, went into effect Oct. 28 and requires sex offenders to provide notice to the institution of higher education where they are employed or are students. Under the law, colleges must also ‘issue a statement’ telling members of campus communities where they can obtain sex offender information.

While the Boston University Police Department directs online visitors to a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board, the Registry Board lists no names and does not give any information concerning where these individuals may live and work, as the law requires. The only way to obtain those facts, according to the BUPD website, is to ‘apply in person’ at the police department where the offender lives or works, or apply ‘in writing to the board.’

Originally approved in October of 2000, the law gave states and schools two years to accumulate the data. Even though two years have passed, the majority of states have not made the required information available, according to Catherine Bath, program director of Security on Campus, Inc.

Bath said California was the first to furnish colleges and universities with this information, followed by Tennessee, Kentucky, Utah, Iowa, South Carolina, Michigan and Florida. Massachusetts, however, has lagged behind, according to Bath.

Bath said because many states are not in compliance with federal law, a technical ‘grace period’ of one year is in effect.

‘These laws are not being enacted as well as they could be,’ Bath said. ‘It appears that [BU] is a perfect example. Massachusetts is not in compliance with the law. It’s federal law, but unfortunately states are being given that leeway.’

Bath said the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act was an extension of Megan’s Law, legislation requiring residents to be aware of sex offenders living in their areas.

‘The law takes it onto campus,’ Bath said. ‘If a [sex offender] attends school, other students have to know. But I’m seeing a little problem with the spirit of the law being followed. They’re not telling the campus community, and in some cases have no intention of reacting to the act.’

Megan’s Law is also not being observed in some states, according to Bath, and it might be a reason states are reluctant to enforce the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act.

BUPD Sgt. Jack St. Hilaire said the department has taken steps to acquire the data.

‘We’ve requested that info from the state, and it’s up to them to provide it,’ St. Hilaire said.

But Charles McDonald, communications director of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board, said BUPD needed to provide the street names within the BU campus in order to ascertain if sex offenders resided there, and BU had not yet supplied that information. As of yesterday, no Massachusetts colleges have complied with the board’s request, he said.

‘We’ve had extensive meetings with campus police departments, and we have directly requested that info from the BUPD,’ McDonald said. ‘We are working with all of the various colleges and universities to make the information available. Three different organizations are involved with BU, specifically the BUPD, Boston Police Department and the Association of Campus Police Departments.’

According to McDonald, campuses would be notified of offenders with a moderate to high risk of re-offending, otherwise known as ‘level two’ and ‘level three.’ McDonald stressed the joint effort involved in accessing this data.

‘We’re working cooperatively here; it’s a joint cooperative issue,’ McDonald said. ‘The police departments know the area better than we do, so we really rely on them in getting this information out.’

He added he is confident that the law will eventually be enacted properly.

‘I think we should be focusing on trying to make the law work rather than chasing down small details,’ McDonald said. ‘We’re working with campus police departments and municipality police to try to make this happen, and I’m sure it will.’

Captain Robert Molloy, detective commander of the BUPD, said that he thought getting the information out to the BU community was still a ‘work in progress.’

‘This is an ongoing issue with the commonwealth, we’ve been in communication with the commonwealth trying to get the information out,’ Molloy said. ‘We’ve complied the best we can, but the state has to give us the records. We don’t think the state is purposefully not complying, but they have a lot of information to process.’

Molloy said he was not aware the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry Board had requested street information from the BUPD.

‘We would have had no problem with giving them,’ Molloy said.

For now, Molloy said the best way for students and faculty to get the data was to go to the Registry Board.

‘That’s the best we can do right now,’ he said. ‘If there was a better way, we would have posted it.’

Molloy said he believed the Sex Offender Registry website, posted by the BUPD, fully adhered to the act, and he said he had no knowledge of any sex offenders working or enrolled in BU.

While some students said they believe BU should be in compliance with federal laws, others said they disagree with the nature of the law.

‘I don’t know if [the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act] would help,’ said College of Arts and Sciences junior Emily Judd. ‘Instead of people who previously committed crimes, we need to work on prevention, something this campus doesn’t do.’

According to a historical overview of the reported Uniform Crime Reporting statistics from the BUPD, in 2001 there was one rape reported. For 1997, zero were reported. In 1992, four rapes were reported.

Although some students said they recognize people can correct prior mistakes, possibilities of re-offense still warrant concern.

‘People sometimes do something, realize it’s bad and try to get it past them,’ School of Engineering freshman Derek Mink said. ‘However, some people do continue making those mistakes.’

In any case, College of General Studies freshman Jenny Liu said she believed it was critical for the school to supply this information to students and the BU community.

‘It’s important. Of course you’d want to know if someone was living down the hall from you and they were a rapist,’ Liu said. ‘It’s vital for the school to comply. If we can’t have peace of mind knowing that we are not around these offenders, then this is not a good school.’

Bath said the best way to protest the non-compliance is by writing to state level representatives.