Tracking plan targets sex criminals

Thu., Dec. 13, 2007

Curt Woodward Associated Press

Cost breakdown

In addition to the in-person visitation grants, Web registry and electronic monitoring projects, Gregoire is asking the Democrat-dominated Legislature to spend:

“$830,000 to hire more sexual assault victims' advocates in county superior courts.

“$500,000 on additional community corrections officers, who would work with local law enforcement agencies to track down sex offenders and other wanted criminals.

“$470,000 for a pilot project that puts an additional officer at each of the state's five special sex offender supervision units. The new workers would focus mostly on paperwork, freeing up others to work in the field.

“$200,000 to expand "Operation Crackdown," a coordinated push to capture wanted sex offenders.

TACOMA – In a neighborhood still reeling from the kidnapping and killing of a 12-year-old girl last summer, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Wednesday announced an $8.2 million plan to boost sex offender monitoring around the state.

Gregoire’s public safety package is dominated by a $5 million grant program that would pay law enforcement agencies to conduct in-person visits with sex offenders. Low-risk offenders would get annual checkups under the plan, with the highest-risk sex criminals being seen four times a year.

Smaller pieces in Gregoire’s sex-crime package include a $920,000 plan to expand satellite-based offender tracking and a $320,000 project to beef up the state’s sex offender Web site, as well as automatic e-mail notices sent to residents when a sex criminal moves into a community.

The programs are part of the governor’s suggested supplemental budget, which lawmakers will consider when the Legislature convenes in early January.

Gregoire pitched the package as an attempt to develop innovative programs that could give local officials the money they need to get tough on sex crimes – something state lawmakers have made a priority in recent years.

“There are a lot of good laws, but they are worthless if we don’t have the human and financial resources to put them into effect,” she said.

The governor’s Republican opponents immediately panned the program as too skimpy and too reactionary.

Dino Rossi, Gregoire’s GOP challenger in 2008, said the Democratic incumbent was only rolling out a sex-crimes package because he and other Republicans have criticized her on public safety.

“Once again, she’s following, not leading,” Rossi said. “This is more political gymnastics, I think.”

Gregoire laid out her seven-point sex crime prevention plan after meeting with local leaders in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood.

Twelve-year-old Zina Linnik was kidnapped from the neighborhood in July and later found dead. Convicted sex offender Terapon Adhahn has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, rape and murder charges in the case.

After that case made headlines, Gregoire appointed a special task force to investigate how the state’s criminal justice system treats sex criminals. Several of the budget initiatives she announced came directly from that group, which was led by Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge.

Gregoire acknowledged that some of the projects use unproven methods. She said more study of their effectiveness must be done to determine whether the state pours more money into the efforts.

“We took a leadership role on sex offender issues historically. We need to do it again,” Gregoire said. “We need to do things where we don’t exactly know how much it will cost or whether it will work.

“But we’re going to do it. And we’re going to check the results, and see if we’re getting a dollar return for dollar invested.”