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I have been on here several times to get advice on moving to Boise and I have received alot of great comments. My husband and I visited Boise a couple of weeks ago and we liked it. We just got our house out there in Meridian and should be moving the end of April. For some reason, I never thought to check for registered sex offenders in the area BEFORE deciding to move out there. Everybody seemed to agree that Boise is a safe place to live so I didnt think anything of it. However, I just checked the sex offender database and I was surprised at how many popped up within a 5 mile radius of my house. Almost 200. And it seemed to be the same all over the Boise and Meridian area. I am from a much larger area and there is only a 1/4 the amount as in my new area. My question is: Do Boise residents have a false sense of security or am I just over-reacting? Please dont take offense to this post. I just have 2 small kids and it freaks me out a little knowing that I am surrounded by people that have offended against children in the past. I would like to get the opinion of current residents instead of making a hasty judgement.
I have been on here several times to get advice on moving to Boise and I have received alot of great comments. My husband and I visited Boise a couple of weeks ago and we liked it. We just got our house out there in Meridian and should be moving the end of April. For some reason, I never thought to check for registered sex offenders in the area BEFORE deciding to move out there. Everybody seemed to agree that Boise is a safe place to live so I didnt think anything of it. However, I just checked the sex offender database and I was surprised at how many popped up within a 5 mile radius of my house. Almost 200. And it seemed to be the same all over the Boise and Meridian area. I am from a much larger area and there is only a 1/4 the amount as in my new area. My question is: Do Boise residents have a false sense of security or am I just over-reacting? Please dont take offense to this post. I just have 2 small kids and it freaks me out a little knowing that I am surrounded by people that have offended against children in the past. I would like to get the opinion of current residents instead of making a hasty judgement.
This topic has come up before on the forum. Idaho's laws are different than other states. I believe Idaho is more strict than most on sexual predators, which is why you see more registered here than where you're coming from. Most likely you have just as many or more predators from where you were previously living; the difference is they don't have to register because your state laws aren't the same as Idaho. I spoke to an officer in regards to this a while back, take a look at my response on this thread.
I'm guessing that you're renting because if you were buying a house you would be required to sign a form called Megan's Law. This form gives you the Ada County Sheriffs website address so you can pull up the potential property to see if any sexual predators are nearby.
You can call the Ada County Sheriff at 577-3000, the Boise Police Department 377-6790, or Meridian Police Department 888-6678 to verify what I found out, in fact, it's always good to double check.
I agree with Torrie. A good thing to remember is that a lot of different offenses will make a person register as a sex offender. Of individuals in that database, only a fraction have actually committed the most heinous deeds of rape or child molestation.
Just to make evident the more innocent folks with that label, in most states a 18-year-old who gets caught engaging in lewdness with a 17-year-old will have to register as a sex offender if the officer and judge go by the book. In all reality, the sex offender in this instance was probably not someone who would threaten your children.
And finally, note that the accountability of sex offender registration is a helpful tool in keeping dangerous minds away from children and arming parents and caretakers with an easily accessible red flag. Individuals on that list are more likely to have to watch themselves and thereby avoid areas where their presence evokes suspicion. However, the real problem for parents to fear are the individuals who haven't made the list yet and are still being allowed to interact and even work with children while no authorities are the wiser. Every offender has that first offense, and many have yet to commit that offense as of right now. This can't be avoided with anything other than discretion, supervision, caution, and luck.
Speaking solely from an inferential statistical standpoint, the odds of dangerous perversion are pretty much the same between comparable demographics and similar population size/density between cities. Under that fairly reasonable assumption, I'd actually be more worried about a child in a comparable area with less registered offenders, as such may be indicative that many have yet to be caught. This presumable reason for the discrepancy actually reflects an inadequate implementation of the accountability/segregation that the registration was meant to ensure. It could also be indicative of lenient enforcement, something far more horrific but unfortunately far less measurable.
Altogether, there are numerous limitations and confounds that make quantitative comparisons using the sex offender registration turn out to be invalid when determining the odds that one will fall victim to a sex crime in a particular locale. Unfortunately, the best anyone can do is still just keep wits about themselves and ensure their children can do the same, then hope for the best, 'cause many good parents and savvy kids can tell you that luck is as big a factor as anything.
However, the real problem for parents to fear are the individuals who haven't made the list yet and are still being allowed to interact and even work with children while no authorities are the wiser. Every offender has that first offense, and many have yet to commit that offense as of right now. This can't be avoided with anything other than discretion, supervision, caution, and luck.
Agreed, the real threat is from people who haven't been caught whether they haven't committed their first offense, or whether they've committed 100 and haven't been turned in.
I hate that the sex offender's list seems to give parents a false sense of security. Like if you can keep your kids away from those people everything will be fine. This is so not true. Most offenders are people the family knows. Relatives, babysitters, neighbors, teachers.
The best thing for parents to do is to educate their kids about good touching and bad touching. Teach them what to do if someone is bad touching. And most importantly, get it across to them that you will believe them and you will not be mad at them no matter who is doing it.
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And it seemed to be the same all over the Boise and Meridian area. I am from a much larger area and there is only a 1/4 the amount as in my new area. My question is: Do Boise residents have a false sense of security or am I just over-reacting?
Please dont take offense to this post. I just have 2 small kids and it freaks me out a little knowing that I am surrounded by people that have offended against children in the past. I would like to get the opinion of current residents instead of making a hasty judgement.
No problem.
