Detective Explains Sex Offender Registry System

This article was written by Pam Robinson. 

The monitoring of sex offenders and the crimes that can get them onto a registry in the first place were described Wednesday in a police community meeting.

Suffolk police detective Sherry Ness said that as of earlier this week, the county had 533 Level 1 offenders, 308 Level 2, 173 Level 3, and 8 pending cases.

Level 3 crimes are the most serious.

Ness said, "Numbers are expected to increase 8-10 percent because of extended registration and increase in registerable offenses."

She noted that while the police cannot disseminate information about information about sex offenders, residents can look up Level 2 or Level 3 cases on the state's official registry. Level 1 offenders are not listed.

Among the requirements for the registry are:
 level 1: low risk; 20 year duration, zip code notice 
 level 2: lifetime duration on the list, zip code notice
 level 3: lifetime, street address notification, 90-day appearances at the police stationhouse, annual photos, etc. 

Suffolk police each month check upon about 200 addresses that are listed by sex offenders, she said. 

 "Each offender is evaluated by the sentencing court or board of examiners for criminal history, the age of victims and their method of operation," to determine the level of the offense, she said. 

Civil commitment, meaning keeping sex offenders confined after their criminal sentences are completed, applies to about 230 offenders in New York State each year, she said. The offenders are housed upstate.

After her presentation, Insp. Edward Brady, commander of the Second Precinct, took several questions and complaints about speeding cars, truck traffic and loitering teens and drug sales. He also reminded the crowd that car and house doors should always be locked. "We're seeing a lot of car larcenies. Lock your cars,  and house doors, where people are just walking in doors. We have to take a certain amount of responsibility to protect ourselves," he said.