Town Council Passes Amended Child Safety Zone Ordinance

The Town Council voted to approve an amended ordinance that secures the town’s Child Safety Zones created to keep children safe from sex offenders.

“The town has a compelling interest in protecting children from the threat of sexual abuse from sex offenders,” the ordinance reads.

The idea is to keep “sex offenders from entering Child Safety Zones.” The zones are described as parks, pool, playground, schools, gymnasiums, and sports fields in the jurisdiction of the town.

The only time a registered sex offender can enter a zone is when he or she is voting  or picking his or her child and in the case of the latter, they must leave immediately after.

Part of the language of the ordinance requires the mayor or resident state trooper to reach out to each and every sex offender of the new ordinance.

There are 37 registered sex offenders in the Town of Montville, according to the sex offender registry, and more than half of those reside at the January Center, an offender treatment facility located at Corrigan-Radgowski prison in Uncasville.

Mayor Ronald McDaniel said Montville Police brought to his attention that the ordinance as had been previously written was unenforceable since the statutory references were not correct. So it was re-written.

“We’re designating zones to keep our children safe,” McDaniel said.

Town Councilor Dana McFee called the ordinance “silly.”

“What a waste. It’s just a feel good ordinance. It does nothing. To hit them with a $99 fine? It’s almost a joke. It seems silly. “

Town Councilor Billy Caron disagreed vehemently: “If it keeps one sexual sicko from our children, then it is worth its weight in gold.”

And Councilor Rosetta Jones, a former prison warden who said she worked for five years with sex offenders, said that it was “a good public statement.”

“It may not be a deterrent but it’s a good public statement that the town will be as vigilant as possible,” she said adding the town’s resources might be better spent “educating people.”

“This is such an emotional issue and a frightening one, but in all my years with sex offenders they don’t adhere to any kind of law,” she said. “It would be effective to teach children (how to be safe) that would be a far better investment.”

If a sex offender is found to be in one of the zones they would be instructed to leave immediately by police per the ordinance and face an infraction and $99 fine.