New ordinance targets sex offenders

WAUPACA – A proposed new ordinance the Waupaca City Council is considering will restrict where sex offenders can live and loiter within the city.
Waupaca Police Chief Pete Kraeger presented the proposal to the council on Aug. 4, saying unless the offender is under supervision of the Department of Corrections or there is a local ordinance in place there are no restrictions on where a sex offender can live.
“Once an offender is released from prison and completes their supervision requirements many of those restrictions expire unless any local law or ordinance applies,” he said. “Wisconsin municipalities have the authority to adopt these types of ordinances.”
Chief Kraeger said about 150 communities have adopted similar ordinances as a means for public and child safety within the community.
The new ordinance would prohibit offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, licensed daycare, specialty schools, playgrounds, recreational trails, parks and churches.

Additionally, the ordinance establishes a 500-foot “child safety zone” around protected locations, within which designated offenders are prohibited from loitering.
“This proposed ordinance is intended to provide the city with a reasonable and legally recognized tool to address the gap while balancing public safety with the legal rights of those affected,” Kraeger said.
The ordinances that are adopted in municipalities must be reasonable and cannot effectively ban offenders from living anywhere in the city.
Kraeger said the court system has made that clear over the evolution of these growing local ordinances.
The new ordinance, if adopted, would be put in place for any new offenders coming out of supervision or moving to the area; however, any of the current 40 offenders that live here would be grandfathered in.
This means if there is a sex offender living within the proposed 1,000-foot limits currently, they would be allowed to stay in that residence as the new ordinance cannot evict anyone from their residence, Kraeger said.