Pia Hansen: Try common sense for a safe Halloween

I‘m one of the people who bemoan the sterilization of Halloween. The pretend trick-or-treating at the mall or in the church basement, the paranoia about going from house to house knocking on the doors of people you don’t know and the political correctness of handing out dried fruits and toothbrushes. Sigh.

Heaven forbid we have some fun and rely on our common sense (you may have to look that up; a couple of decades ago “common sense” is what people relied on to avoid making painful, embarrassing and potentially dangerous mistakes) to keep us safe.

And now this: In Baltimore, some registered sex offenders will be required to post a “no candy at this residence” sign, turn out their porch lights and pretend they are not home on Halloween. Closer to home, in Kootenai County, registered sex offenders who are under the supervision of the Idaho Department of Correction will be required to follow “Lights Out” rules, including not decorating the outside of their residences for Halloween, not handing out candy, not going trick-or-treating and keeping their porch lights out. And police officers will conduct a special sex offender Halloween rule-compliance check on the big night.

While I understand the reasoning behind these new rules and appreciate the extra effort of police officers, I worry initiatives like this create a false sense of security, especially if we begin putting signs on sex offenders’ houses.

What other signs could we come up with? Signs to put on houses of convicted drug dealers, murderers and gun owners easily come to mind. Soon we’d need a color-coded system to make the signs easier to decipher from the sidewalk: ‘orange’ means clear; ‘yellow’ means white-collar crime convictions only; ‘black’ means sex offender; ‘blue’ means armed robbery conviction – the list can go on and on.

Sex offenders are different, you say? Well, yes they are. Specifically, those with restrictions pertaining to contact with kids are already under supervision day in and day out.

Perhaps I overestimate the intelligence of the average sex offender out on probation, but I would think locking the doors, closing the blinds, cranking up the stereo and pretending you aren’t home is the best way to avoid violating your parole conditions in the first place. If you aren’t supposed to have any contact with kids, what idiot would leave his or her house on the evening of Halloween in the first place? Seems like a surefire way to be returned to the slammer before the break of dawn, even if you are dressed up like a pumpkin.

Yes, some sex offenders reoffend, but I’m afraid they don’t restrict their activity to Halloween.

To me, these Halloween initiatives are mainly publicity stunts, and they smack of risk management.

The most dangerous sex offender is the one we haven’t found yet, and he or she will not get a warning sign to put up or a set of special rules to live by on the 31st.

Please, parents, stock up on common sense – don’t ask for the nanny state to keep you safe. Do go trick-or-treating with your kids on Halloween. Talk to your kids about what you are doing. Use Halloween as an opportunity to meet your neighbors, meet their kids, pet the dogs and have an old-fashioned conversation about what’s going on around your block. In the long-run that’s the best way to keep your kids and your neighborhood safe for everyone, every day of the year.