08/26/2011
Instead of an address, 49 sex offenders in El Paso County list only an approximate location as their residence on the state’s sex offender registry: “8th Street Behind Walmart” or the “Creek by Rescue Mission.”
Others say they’re living under bridges, in parking lots and parks.
- And has anyone asked, why are they living in these places? It's probably because of the draconian laws that exile people, and turn them into modern day lepers and scapegoats.
Authorities admit that makes it tougher to keep track of sex offenders and circumvents the state law giving residents the right to know if sex offenders are living in their neighborhood.
But, they say, there’s not much that can try do about it — there’s no law requiring sex offenders to have a home.
“Unfortunately some people in our society are homeless,” said Christopher Labanov-Rostovsky, program manager for Colorado’s Sex Offender Management Board. “We ask them to note if they are transient, and, frankly, that’s the best that can be done in the situation.”
The 49 homeless offenders are a small percentage of the more than 1,500 registered sex offenders living in El Paso County. Nevertheless, El Paso County has the most homeless sex offenders in Colorado and nearly a quarter of the state’s estimated 190 homeless offenders, according to a Gazette analysis of the state’s sex offender registry list.
Denver County has the second largest population with an estimated 35 homeless registered sex offenders.
By law, local law enforcement has to visit registered sex offenders wherever they are living at least once a year to ensure they haven’t changed addresses without notifying law enforcement.
It’s not easy when there’s no home to visit, said Sgt. Bill Dehart, who heads the Colorado Springs Police sex offender registration unit.
“Tracking them is a difficult task,” he said. “I would be remiss if I said it wasn’t.”
Under the radar
Colorado’s sex offender registration laws have a loophole of sorts when it comes to homeless offenders. By law, the public is supposed to have access to the addresses of all sex offenders in the state. But that information isn’t useful when it comes to homeless offenders who could be anywhere in the community.
“The purpose of public access to registries is designed around knowledge,” Dehart said. “If you know you have a registered sex offender living in the neighborhood, that knowledge provides a level of safety.”
Still, he said that local law enforcement does its best to keep track of the offenders, even if the public doesn’t know exactly where they are. If the offender lists himself as living under a bridge, officers check there, he said.
Brett Iverson, an officer on the Police Department’s Homeless Outreach Team, said police are able to keep surprisingly good tabs on many of the homeless sex offenders.
“We know who our homeless individuals are and where they hang out at,” he said. “Often times, if they leave they will say ‘I’m moving and this is where I’m going.’”
There are no definitive studies showing homeless sex offenders are more likely to re-offend than other sex offenders. But Labanov-Rostovsky said the sex offender management board is worried about them.
“I think that offenders who don’t have stability in their lives, such as permanent housing and employment, those are risk factors,” he said. “We obviously want to know if an offender is a transient because they might be at an increased risk.”
The other problem is that homeless offenders aren’t watched by residents like those whose addresses are listed on registries, Dehart said.
“Increased public scrutiny hopefully lessens the chance of re-offense,” he said. “There’s another set of eyes on him.”
However, Iverson said most of the homeless sex offenders he’s been in contact with aren’t trying to cause trouble — they’re trying to stay out of it.
That’s borne out by studies showing most sex offenses aren’t committed by a stranger grabbing someone off of the street, Labanov-Rostovsky said. Most are committed by people who know the victim and they happen in a private place.
No easy fix
Bob Holmes heads Homeward Pikes Peak, a nonprofit that helped clear out homeless camps last year by finding temporary shelter, medical care and jobs for hundreds of people. Still, his organization avoids working with homeless sex offenders.
“We are very leery of bringing anyone into the program who has a violent background,” he said. “The first priority is the safety of the people already in the program.”
The stigma of being a sex offender and the fear they’ll re-offend, makes it hard for them to build a life after prison. Few places are willing to house people convicted of a sex offense, Holmes said.
“It’s virtually impossible,” he said. “That’s why so many are discharged to underneath bridges.”
Colorado Springs attorney Allen C. Gasper has represented several sex offenders and knows how hard it is for them to build stable lives after being placed on public registries.
“They are examined more because of the ‘yuck factor,’” he said. “People can put up with a theft or a drug problem, but when you start talking sex offenses it seems like everyone is looked at like a pedophile.”
Unfortunately, some sort of public acceptance is exactly what these men and women need to rebuild their lives and get off the street, Labanov-Rostovsky said.
“My message to the community is to support them to find employment and housing,” he said. “If that reduces their risk, then we all benefit from that.”
