Albertville Among 8 MN Cities 'Banning' Level III Sex Offenders: Star Tribune

Eight cities in Minnesota, including Albertville, have "essentially banned" Level III sex offenders from taking up residence, according to a Star Tribune report.

Those local ordinances work against a Minnesota law intended to spread out the state's population of Level III sex offenders. Instead, the offenders are concentrated in a few areas, such as north Minneapolis.

One corrections-department official told the newspaper “it’s just pushing these offenders to other towns nearby"—because the eight cities have stymied agency's residential-placement efforts: 

The Department of Corrections (DOC) has all but stopped trying to find homes for Level Three sex offenders in the Minnesota cities that have imposed far-reaching restrictions on where they can live. Most of those cities adopted similarly written ordinances that ban these people from living within 1,000 to 2,000 feet of schools, parks, bus stops or “places children are known to congregate.” ...

The Department of Corrections, citing a study it conducted in 2007, says laws like those in [the Minnesota city of] Wyoming do nothing to prevent offenders from reoffending and may be making the problem worse by lulling residents into a false sense of security.

Read the full article at startribune.com.

Albertville's Ordinance
According to a Star Tribune map accompanying the article, Albertville is the only one of the eight cities that has a 1,000-foot limit on offenders living near places with children. The other seven cities, including Otsego, have ordinances that establish at least some 2,000-foot limits.

This is how the map summarizes Albertville's ordinance on Level III sex offenders: "Prohibited from living within 1,000 feet of any school, daycare, park, playground, church or 'other places children are known to congregate.'"

Duluth and Moose Lake have ordinances that do not have the effect of preventing offenders from taking up residence altogether, the newspaper noted. Ten offenders currently live in Duluth.

Where Offenders Are
One man living in Monticello is the only Level III sex offender currently residing in Wright County, according to the map. There were 289 in Minnesota as of last week, the newspaper reported.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections maintains a public online database on Level III Sex Offenders that allows searches by location.

Related at Patch:

• Sentencings: Buffalo Man Jailed on Terroristic Threats and More from Wright County (Feb. 21, 2013)
• (Oct. 9, 2012)
• Sentencings: St. Michael and Albertville Area Sentencings for Week of Sept. 26 (Oct. 3., 2011)
• Parent Talk: When Strangers Aren't The Danger