I am writing to clarify and correct the public record created by recent reports and editorial comments regarding my efforts to obtain “Violent Sex Offender” designations for certain convicted sex offenders under the New York Sex Offender Registration Act (“ SISTER”). In my view, your coverage loses sight of what is and must always be my number one priority here, to do everything I can under the law to protect our community and its residents from the obvious risks and concerns associated with with convicted sex offenders. among us. An integral part of this responsibility is to ensure that convicted sex offenders are properly classified under SORA when they register with NYS so that we here in Chautauqua County can determine the level of restrictions and the degree and duration of reporting that must be required that person. , as well as the extent of information that may be shared with the public concerned. This process requires the determination of (i) a convicted sex offender’s “risk level,” a score-based assessment created under SORA to predict the likelihood that a sex offender will commit more sex-related offenses while living in the community us and (ii) certain material and consequential “designations” based on that individual’s current and prior criminal convictions.

A critical designation under SORA is that of “Violent Sex Offender,” a classification that recognizes the inherently violent nature of certain sex crimes, many of which involve sexual assaults committed against children, by requiring lifetime registration, increased monitoring by law enforcement and disclosures. for the public – all enhanced safeguards designed to protect communities from the risks and dangers posed by the threat of violent sex offenders. Without such a designation, the registration requirements that allow us to pursue a convicted violent sex offender will eventually expire or be judicially terminated, at which point that person’s whereabouts and activities can no longer be monitored by law enforcement. laws; that individual will, in effect, disappear from the community and from our collective vision, unless and until later they relapse – a worst-case scenario that must be avoided to the best of our ability under existing law. For these reasons, the Violent Sex Offender Designation is an extremely important tool in our legal efforts to prevent these individuals from causing further harm in Chautauqua County and elsewhere.

All of these concerns and considerations come into play when an out-of-state sex offender moves to our county. In this situation, he or she must register as a sex offender with NYS and it is then up to me and my office to seek the appropriate risk level classification and designations described above, requiring us to obtain records of the underlying sex offender. – state convictions. In some cases, due to the passage of time and/or inadequate record retention policies of another state, we are unable to obtain complete records of a sex offender’s underlying convictions and are therefore unable to present the full nature and extent of the crimes that person committed and the harm caused to his victims before he came to live among us. But that doesn’t mean we throw up our hands and admit that this critical designation doesn’t apply.

On the contrary, given the extreme risks to the community when an out-of-state sex offender moves into the county to live among us and our families, it is the duty of law enforcement to take the very opposite approach to what the editorial urges your that is, to use all legally available means to obtain the sex offender designation because it imposes the increased protections necessary to reduce, as much as we can, the potential for an offender to harm again. Acting otherwise, for me, is unacceptable. My office and I will always use the limited (and in my personal view, inadequate) tools provided to law enforcement by our representatives in Albany to fight for legal protections that protect our residents and their families.

The importance of your editorial suggests that in my aggressive pursuit of sex offender designations, I am actually repeatedly banging my head against the wall, unsuccessfully and to the county’s detriment. It is simply wrong. Prior to the recent Appellate Division ruling, which we strongly opposed and which apparently inspired your editorial, New York courts were legally required to apply this designation to those offenders whose out-of-state convictions were for offenses that can be registered at the felony level. This is the legal basis we have relied upon to successfully fight to obtain and obtain many sex offender designations despite poor record keeping practices in other states. Unfortunately, that has now been removed as a result of the Appellate Division’s recent decision. These designations are now considered unconstitutional and violate every sex offender’s Due Process rights unless we can prove that the out-of-state convictions meet the NY requirements for the sexually violent offense designation.

In short, we currently lack an important tool in our limited legal arsenal to ensure that Chautauqua County residents and law enforcement have as much information as possible, as much time as possible, about the sex offenders living here in the community. our. While I will continue to use all available legal means to properly classify sex offenders in order to protect our community, I will not, as your editorial suggests, continue to seek sex offender designations in violation of the Appellate Division’s ruling.

Thank you for bringing this important development in our crime-fighting efforts to the public’s attention.