[newshawk note - If this story seems unrelated to drug policy, then
please read "Government Releases 134,000 Convicted Sex Criminals To
Lock Up Pot-Smokers Instead, Libertarians Charge" at
http://www.pdxnorml.org/021397.html#gr1]

IN MORE THAN 3,000 CASES, NEIGHBORS NOT NOTIFIED

CLACKAMAS, Ore. (AP) -- Oregon State Police say a lack of manpower is part
of the reason residents aren't always told when convicted sex offenders are
released. There is already a backlog of 3,000 such cases.

A bill for the 1999 Legislature would streamline evaluation and add 15
positions to help notify neighbors and track offenders.

In addition, the bill would make public records of sex offenders' addresses
and offenses so people could call in to find out if an offender lived on
their street.

Currently, State Police Detective Jim Ragon's staff -- two full-time
clerical workers, one full-time and two part-time analysts -- is in charge
of evaluating the 60 sex offenders who go off parole and probation every
month. Since his office began operating in October 1997, it has evaluated
600 offenders and made door-to-door warnings on 72.

The backlog of more than 3,000 outstanding cases is beyond the department's
capacity, he said, and to stop work on current cases doesn't make sense.

"Whatever we do, the ball is going to get dropped either way," he said.

One of the offenders who fell through the cracks was James Hubert Potts,
45, of Clackamas. Potts moved into a mobile home park in April. Two months
later, he was accused of abusing a neighbor's 9-year-old daughter.

Potts' case shows that manpower isn't the only factor. Because there are so
many sexual offenders, law enforcement has created a tool that helps them
focus on those at highest risk of committing new crimes.

But that process would have indicated Potts posed little risk to his
neighbors.

Potts was convicted of attempted first-degree sodomy in Multnomah County in
1991 and spent a year in jail and three years on probation. The victim was
a girl who was not a neighbor.

In October 1996, he was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of contributing
to the sexual delinquency of a minor and sentenced to 30 days in jail and
12 months' probation. That victim was a 14-year-old girl whom he met
through his work as a pest exterminator. She also was not a neighbor.

Even though Potts had two prior convictions, authorities agreed Potts would
not have been considered predatory under current standards.

"We probably have people out there who are far more dangerous than he is,"
Ragon said.

To be a predator, a person must meet three of seven criteria, such as being
convicted for forcible rape, having multiple victims, using a weapon or
molesting boys.

"Ask police and they say yes, they notify on sex offenders," said Sam
Olsen, a Jackson County Community Corrections officer. "The truth is that
we don't notify on most cases, and we have to notify only in the case of
predators.

"If people want state police to go door-to-door, then the Legislature needs
to make that decision."

1998 Oregon Live LLC

Copyright 1997 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan