Tips for parents to protect their children from pedophiles and other shady characters
CITYWIDE Self-proclaimed pedophile Jack McClellan isn’t the only shady character parents should be concerned about.
On any given day there are anywhere between 65 and 70 registered sex offenders in Santa Monica, with only 39 appearing on a Web site set up under Megan’s Law to help parents find out if a child molester or rapist is living in their neighborhood, law enforcement officials said.
While McClellan, who was arrested at UCLA last week for violating a restraining order preventing him from being within 10 yards of a child, has been on the radar of law enforcement agencies and the focus of several news stories, both local and national, police and child safety experts are warning parents to not forget about the neighbor across the street, the coach at school or the volunteer at summer camp.
In that same vein, parents shouldn’t get wrapped up in sexual offender registries available online. While the convicts featured committed crimes that were serious enough to be forced to register and have their pictures and addresses posted on the Internet along with their aliases, tattoos and other information, they aren’t the only ones who may be dangerous.
When it comes to crimes against children, the majority are committed by someone the child knows and with whom they have established a relationship. For women, many sexual assaults are considered “confidence rapes,” in that the offender knows the victim and has used that familiarity to gain access to her, law enforcement officials said.
“By spending so much time focusing on the person living up the street, parents often overlook the person living across the street,” said Pattie Fitzgerald,a Santa Monica mom and the founder of Safely Ever After, Inc. (www.safe-lyeverafter.com), which provides prevention education workshops and seminars for parents and children at homes, schools, PTA events and community gatherings.
“Megan’s Law is a great awareness tool, but you can’t be lulled into a false sense of security,” said Fitzgerald, who will be teaching parents the essentials at the “Family Fun and Safety Day” on Sept. 8 at the Shalom Institute in Malibu.
“It is only part of the solution,” Fitzgerald added. “It only tells you if someone’s been caught and convicted and have relocated into the community. It doesn’t tell you about the people who haven’t been caught.”
By law, people convicted of specified sex crimes are required to register as sex offenders with a local law enforcement agency. Prior to release from prison, jail, a mental hospital, or on probation, sex offenders are notified in writing of their duty to register, and a copy of the notification is forwarded to the California Department of Justice, which is responsible for maintaining the registry.
Registered sex offenders are required to update their information annually, within five working days of their birthday. Some sex offenders must update more often: Transients must update every 30 days, and sexually violent predators, every 90 days.
When registrants change their address or become homeless, they are required to update their registration information within five days with a local agency, which is responsible for forwarding that information to the Department of Justice.
Failing to do so can be a misdemeanor or a felony depending on the level of the sex crime committed.
For Santa Monica, staying on top of who’s registered and who has not is challenging given the large number of homeless people — around 2,200 — who move in and out of the city frequently, said Santa Monica Police Sgt. Doug Theus, who oversees the department’s sex crimes unit.
“With the system we have in place, we actually track them very well, but as you know, people come in and out of the city and that makes it a little bit more difficult,” Theus said. “Many people also come here to register because registering in L.A. is very time consuming. We make sure that everything is done right.”
Theus said he and the other sex crimes detectives are looking at ways to make the process more efficient and effective.
“Instead of just coming through the front office to register, we are having registrants come to the detectives here so that we can see them before they sign the (offender) book,” Theus said.
The SMPD checks the Megan’s Law Web site frequently to see if new information has been added. In the end, it is up to local law enforcement agencies to make sure the latest information is made available to the public.
Fitzgerald praised the SMPD for releasing the information bulletin on McClellan even though some have criticized the department for doing so because McClellan has never been convicted of a sex crime against a child.
“I think (the SMPD) does a good job of keeping track of offenders here, but there is some stuff I’d like to talk about with parents that police departments just don’t have the time to do,” Fitzgerald said.
One of those things is helping parents talk with their children about their “uh-oh feeling.”
Fitzgerald said parents are often reluctant to talk to their children about safety because they do not want to scare their children. But a way to make them more aware of their surroundings without instilling fear is to talk about the child’s “uh-oh” feeling, which is something all children experience when they are being told to do something that goes against what their parents have taught them.
By listening to their “uh-oh” feeling, kids can potentially avoid a dangerous situation.
Instead of talking to kids about strangers, parents should focus more on talking to their children about tricky people, Fitzgerald said. Kids do not understand that concept of strangers as easily as adults and this kind of teaching could prevent children from talking with a police officer, bus driver, or some other stranger that could help them.
Also, parents should tell their children to never go with an adult who says they need help finding their car or a lost dog. Adults look to other adults for help, Fitzgerald said.
“Parents need to stop worrying about scaring their children and start talking about prevention,” Fitzgerald said. “We believe it is important to teach them about how to be safe crossing the street, we teach them how to be safe by not touching a hot stove, but this is a safety issue that we shy away from out of fear. We don’t talk about it and that does a disservice to the kids.”
SMPD officers said the most important thing a parent can do is be involved in their kids’ lives, which means meeting your child’s friend’s parents, building a close relationship with their teachers and counselors.
“We always want to remind our parents to know where their kids are at all times,” said SMPD Lt. Alex Padilla, spokesman for the department.
“It is important to also be actively involved in the schools, which provide information to the families themselves and are a critical part of the process,”Padilla said.“It is really more than the police department. It takes a combination of all stakeholders — parents, schools, service groups — working together to make sure our children are safe.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 21, 2007. Read the original PDF.