Balls unveils statewide child safety zone legislation

Assemblyman Greg Ball (R, C, I Patterson) was joined by local officials and concerned residents outside Van Cortlandtville Elementary School at a press conference today to highlight the urgent need for Westchester County to enact Child Safety Zones legislation. The bottom line is that a convicted level 2 sex predator lives right around the corner from this school. With the recidivism rate as high as it is for sex offenders, Westchester children are clearly in danger. It is far past time that the County Legislature enact some meaningful, common sense legislation to protect children from these sick predators, said Ball, who as a member of the Assembly Republican Sex Offender Watch Task Force recently brought the task force to the Yorktown Town Hall to vet the proposed legislation. For too long, the Westchester Board of Legislators has sat on this important legislation to keep our children safe from deviant predators, Westchester Legislator George Oros said. While local legislation is a step in the right direction, it should also be a priority to enact child safety zone laws statewide to clarify the recent court decision in Rockland County. This is simply unacceptable, stated Dr. Terrence Murphy, who serves as President of Keeping Westchester Safe. As a parent of two young children I would be appalled to know such an individual lives mere feet from where my kids spend several hours a day. This is precisely why this county needs to pass and enact the Child Safety Zone Laws. The Child Safety Zones legislation would prohibit convicted sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of any school property, playground, school bus stop, or other areas where children congregate. The level 2 sex offender living near Van Cortlandtville Elementary School currently lives within 1,000 feet of the school property. It's critical for our lawmakers to enact this common sense legislation protecting our most vulnerable citizens- our children, said Dan Schorr, an experienced sex crimes prosecutor. He continued, The Westchester District Attorney must work more closely with Westchester's legislators to ensure that we have the tools necessary to prosecute sex offenders and keep our children safe. Additionally, Ball is working with these local officials as well as Rockland County Executive Scott Vanderhoef to develop a uniform state standard protecting children from dangerous sexual predators. While the Assemblyman will continue working at the local level, he has also introduced statewide Child Safety Zone legislation, Assembly Bill 7948. This bill is sponsored by democrat Craig Johnson in the State Senate, who as a county legislator, drafted Nassau Countys child safety zone law. Putnam County Legislator Dan Birmingham said that (in Putnam County) we are amending our law to get around the preemption angle that state supreme court has ruled on in Rockland, and we're exempting all those folks that are under supervision with the department of probation. We believe our law as amended will pass constitutional muster. Balls child safety zone legislation addresses the courts concerns. Ball is also the sponsor of four other statewide bills to safeguard children from sex offenders: A.2187 creates the crime of endangering the welfare of a child in a sexual manner as a class E felony; A.7047 would ensure residents are notified of a sex offenders relocation into their community immediately; A.6796 calls for level 2 and 3 sex offenders to wear monitoring devices; and, A.6792 establishes guidelines for the location of sex offenders, authorizing municipalities to reject the placement of a sex offender or community residence for sex offenders. The most sacred role of government is to protect the most vulnerable and innocent. This law does that by protecting children against level 2 and 3 sex offenders. It should be put here in Westchester County and statewide, Birmingham added. This week is National Crime Victims Rights Week, which falls during both Child Abuse Awareness Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month, as enacted by President Obama.