Police set up sexual predator hot line for Halloween

Police set up sexual predator hot line for Halloween
Police set up sexual predator hot line for Halloween BY ELINOR J. BRECHER ebrecher@MiamiHerald.com The Miami-Dade Police Department this week established a Halloween Sexual Predator hot line ''for citizens to report unusual or inappropriate behavior by sexual predators and offenders who reside in their community,'' Chief Bobby Parker said in a statement. Members of the department's Sexual Predator and Offender Unit will take the calls, on the theory that children are especially vulnerable to perverts with candy on Halloween. The trouble is, that theory is wrong -- at least according to experts on sexual predators. Dr. Edward Sczechowicz, a Coral Gables psychologist who treats sex offenders and evaluates them for the courts, said the hot line is pointless, and will reinforce erroneous notions about sex crimes. ''There's not the slightest iota of evidence'' that children are at greater risk on Halloween, said Sczechowicz. Moreover, crime statistics consistently show that relatives, family friends and others familiar to the child perpetrate 80 to 90 percent of sex crimes against children, he said, so measures targeting strangers ``pour more tax dollars down a black hole. ''Usually things like this are about politicians trolling for votes,'' he said. José ''Pepe'' Diaz, the Miami-Dade County commissioner who sponsored a resolution that led to the hot line, said it's intended to be ``more proactive than reactive.'' To come up with the resolution, which also details measures to restrict sex criminals at Halloween, ''We did intensive research on. . . what different states were doing,'' Diaz said New Jersey, Illinois and Virginia have instituted Halloween-themed statewide restrictions on sex offenders, as have counties in New York and Texas. Diaz said he was also influenced by the television show Dateline NBC's ''To Catch a Predator'' series. Predators ''can decorate their houses in advance and develop a relationship with kids,'' he warned. Dr. Fred Berlin, a Johns Hopkins University psychiatry professor who specializes in sexual disorders, said such measures spotlight a nonexistent problem. He called them ``counterproductive.'' ''It. . . makes the holiday less fun and worries parents out of all proportion,'' he said. Carolyn Atwell-Davis, director of legislative affairs for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, acknowledged that programs such as Miami-Dade's come ``in response to media coverage of high-profile cases.'' And while focusing on a short-term event like Halloween doesn't do much to protect kids, ``it sends a message to parents that this could be an opportunity to talk about staying safe the rest of the year it's an opportunity to schedule more community events and get kids off the streets.'' The hot line isn't the only measure that authorities plan. State Corrections Department spokesperson Gretl Plessinger said that ''compliance initiatives are planned'' for Halloween, including home visits by some of Miami-Dade's 247 probation officers, who ``are trained to hold up a badge and state clearly who they are.'' Sczechowicz said that ''dozens'' of worried offenders have called him about a Halloween night ''sweep'' by corrections officers to make sure they're home after 5 p.m. -- unless they're excused to go to work -- and aren't opening their doors to trick-or-treaters. 'They keep saying, `If I open the door, I'll be arrested. If I don't, I'll be in violation,' '' because it will be assumed they're not home. According to Plessinger, there are 1,008 supervised sex offenders in Miami-Dade at differing levels of supervision. Of those, 175 are court-designated sexual predators. Not all sex offenders are classified as predators; judges impose that designation. And not all in either category are barred from contact with children; that depends on the court order governing the offender's conduct. ''We're addressing both'' predators and offenders, said Maj. Elizabeth Buchholz, who heads the county police sex-crimes section and came up with the hot line idea. She said that the county's highest predator/offender concentrations are in the 33142, 33147 and 33010 ZIP codes. She agrees that Halloween is no more risky than any other day, ``but our objective is to add another layer of safety for parents to feel more secure, especially in establishing a trick-or-treating route. They should know which houses to avoid.'' She also agreed that violent stranger assaults are ``isolated incidents, but whenever your children are vulnerable, you should always be aware.'' In an e-mail, she added that parents concerned about a particular adult ``can call the hot line to ask what restrictions there are, if any.'' Officers will respond on Halloween day if a predator decorates his house, she said, while other concerns raised in calls will be investigated over the next two weeks. The hot line isn't adding to county costs, said Buchholz. ''We're not using any overtime,'' she said. The sworn and nonsworn personnel who will take the calls are the same ones who register offenders daily, ``so it's just been incorporated in their regular duties.'' http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/15800987.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_news

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