Closer Than you Think
We all know there are predators among us, but are they too close?
1,000 feet. 400 steps. That’s how far away a sex offender needs to be from a school or daycare facility in the state of Missouri. Or at least, that’s what most people think.
Over the last several years, the court system has been swinging back and forth regarding sex offenders and what laws they are subject to. They even went as far as taking some off the sex offender registry list. During that time, they were no longer subject to the law; however, a different court opinion later came into play and reversed some cases. Now in the state of Missouri, it depends on the county you live in and the prosecutor.
“So depending on, for example if we have an offender who was removed from the list, while they were removed from the list by action of a court decision, they end up buying a house that’s 50 feet too close to the school. Then they come back on the list again...that’s a subject matter where we don’t necessarily take that person into custody. We’ll talk to them, we’ll talk to the prosecutors because there are other issues that come into play there when property rights and things of that nature because it was legal at the time they bought the house,” said Deputy Holland of the Platte County Sheriff’s office.
That makes sense; however, there is a case where a man by the name Richard Hughes was able to live 585.23 feet away from Southeast Elementary. Hughes was convicted of rape and sentenced in 1983. The law at the time was 1,000 feet, the same as today. It isn’t known how long he was in prison, due to the fact that a lot of cases that old weren’t transferred onto the online database. The principal of Southeast declined to comment.
“Before August 28, 2004 in Missouri, [registered sex offenders were] kind of exempt from that law. If they had an out of state conviction, they had to be convicted before August 28, 2008 to be exempt,” said Deputy Zimmerman of the Clay County Sheriff’s office.
According to these new laws, Hughes was allowed to live less than 1,000 feet from Southeast. It wasn’t until September 2016 when the Kansas City Police Department charged him with sodomy of the first degree (Deviate Sexual Intercourse with a person less than 14 years old) that things changed. On May 4, 2017, the Platte County Police department changed his status to non-compliant on the database. What isn’t known is how long he lived at the residence before he was charged, or when the offense actually happened.
“First off, he shouldn’t be living that close anyways. It infuriates me that no one has done anything to act upon the matter. I don’t feel like it makes the environment safe for children,” said Chan’Tice Philips, sophomore.
When it comes to the students in the Park Hill School District, Dr. Josh Colvin, director of student services, said that students are safe on campus.
“We’re very fortunate that the district has invested in a program called RAPTOR. It’s a visitor entry system. So when you enter a building, you’ll notice up front at Park Hill South, there’s a computer screen and parents or visitors have to scan their ID badge or ID (their state issued ID). At that time it instantaneously checks the national database and state database, and would flag you if you were a registered sex offender. So if that were to occur, we would contact the student resource officer and ask them to leave,” said Colvin. According to the School-Community Relations number KK district policy regarding sex offenders: “the district also prohibits... not or within 500 ft of any school building, district property, district activity, or any vehicle used to transport students.”
So what would happen if a student at one of the high schools was convicted of being a sex offender?
“Well, we wouldn’t allow them to attend school, particularly if they have been charged with a felony… and our policy language speaks towards that… if you have been charged or convicted of a felony offense, then we work with you during that time. Sometimes we have to provide alternative services outside of the district,” said Colvin.
The Park Hill School district also works with law enforcement whenever a complaint is filed on ‘suspicious behavior’, like in the case of a man approaching students at bus stops earlier this year. The district makes sure that they notify families quickly and make a follow up call to the law enforcement, where more often than not they decide to add patrol to the area. They aren’t able to comment at this time about the specifics of the incident or which school(s) it affected.
The things that aren’t known at this time are how long Hughes has lived that close to the elementary school, if he was exempt from the law and was allowed to live there, or when he committed sodomy. It isn’t very clear why a rapist would be exempt from the sex offender law after so many years.
“I think they should make him live very secluded. This whole area is filled with kids and schools not too far with each other throughout the district. He should be in prison or have someone watch him to make sure he doesn’t do anything to anyone… where he lives isn’t acceptable because it’s right near the school… they really need to do something to enforce the law on his actions,” said Laylani Gonzalez, junior.
Hughes is in prison while on trial for the sodomy charge since he can’t pay the bond to be released, and School Resource Officer Matt Westrich believes that with a charge like that, he won’t be coming back anytime soon.
While there can always be mistakes in some laws and rulings, potentially allowing a convicted rapist to live less than 400 steps from an elementary school is a huge problem, according to Gonzalez and Philips. Especially since when Phillips went to Southeast, she believes most of the school’s students walked home every day.
“There are some points in the year where we make a certain effort… there’s a particular law in Missouri related to Halloween, and there are certain requirements that are only applicable on Halloween. Throughout the rest of the year, it’s kind of a randomized effort… they’re going every two weeks or something of that nature. If we have cause of concern on a particular offender or we get a tip on an offender… that’s an investigative effort they automatically focus on that particular issue,” said Holland.
With police monitoring the offenders’ locations, one can also stay aware by using the Missouri Highway Patrol website, where one can see a map of every offender and all the schools in Missouri. However, when someone uses tools like these it is important to not start a witch hunt on offenders. The only one found in the area not abiding by the law was Hughes, who is now in prison. Most are following the laws set by their counties and are living peaceful lives; it is important that when someone sees something suspicious, that they say something to their law enforcement immediately.
