Sex offender placement on agenda

The Costa Mesa City Council will be holding a study session today on the placement of registered sex offenders in the city. Councilwoman Katrina Foley requested the information from city staff at a July 5 council meeting in response to the concerns of some residents, she said.

“I wanted the police department to give an overview of what the status is in the city right now and what we are doing as a city to manage people who are registered offenders living in our city and ? discuss some options for what we can do to limit parolees on being paroled into our city,” she said in a telephone interview.

Of 152 registered sex offenders in the city, 25 are on active parole, meaning there are certain state restrictions about where the parolees can live, a report by Costa Mesa police shows. Paroled sex offenders are required to register with local law enforcement upon release and are monitored by state parole agents.

Some parolees cannot live within one-quarter or one-half mile from a school.

The study session is primarily to educate residents and council members, officials said.

“The point of this presentation is to help educate the community as well as the council with respect to what the actual numbers are,” said Costa Mesa Police Capt. Tom Warnack.

Because of the recent availability of the Megan’s Law database, Foley said, residents may be more concerned because they have access to more information.

“I think there is a general concern in every city now that the Megan’s Law database is accessible from the comfort of your home,” she said. “People can now see who in their community is a sex offender ? and people are becoming more aware.”

The Megan’s Law website does not list every registered sex offender, however. Some offenders ? such as juveniles or those convicted of certain misdemeanor offenses ? are not listed on the public database. On Monday, the website listed 95 offenders who lived in Costa Mesa.

“The number is fluid,” Warnack said. “The number continually changes as people move in and out of the area.”

Costa Mesa Interim Police Chief Steven Staveley and Det. Robert B. Phillips will present their report today based on numbers collected July 23.

“Our police have been working very diligently to clean up the report to make sure it has accurate information so residents aren’t fearful?. I want to make sure we’re doing what we can to prevent registered sex offenders who molest children from moving into our city,” Foley said.

Without having done any statistical analysis, Costa Mesa City Attorney Kimberly Hall Barlow said she thinks Costa Mesa’s numbers are comparable with surrounding cities in Orange County.

“I haven’t personally done a comparison, but I can tell you I have seen from the Office of the Attorney General a locator map and, at least so far, it looks like three or four of the surrounding cities we’re pretty comparable with,” she said. “The spread is pretty consistent within this area.”

For more information on registered sex offenders in the area, visit .

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Costa Mesa City Council study session

WHEN: 4:30 p.m. today

WHERE: City Hall, Conference Room 1A, 77 Fair Drive

FYI: (714) 754-5225 or www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us/% council/cagenda.htm#study