RUMFORD – Though Maine law requires convicted sex offenders to register with police, no law in Maine specifically requires police to notify residents when sex offenders or sexually violent predators move in.

Instead, discretion to do so is left up to individual police chiefs.

Unlike Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood’s vocal support and proactive stance on notification, Rumford Police Chief Timothy Bourassa handles notification on a case-by-case basis.

If a convicted sex offender moves into Rumford, “I’m not going to pull a Chitwood,” Bourassa said Tuesday afternoon. “We have the right to notify the community as we see fit. There’s no law in Maine that says we have to notify the community. But there are times when it should be done and there are times when it shouldn’t be done.”

Over the past five years, Bourassa’s department, which has a clear community notification policy for registered sex offenders, has informed the public about the presence of four registered sex offenders, he said.

“None of those four people are here now,” he added, noting that his officers notified residents of the areas into which the four offenders moved.

He recalled one incident in which a probation and parole office in another part of the state wanted to temporarily house a sexually violent offender in Rumford over the Christmas holidays so he could get together with his family.

When police were advised that the offender could not leave the house, “we made posters and distributed them to people around that residence, and he never left the house,” Bourassa said.

“In another instance, we had a guy who got out of jail and lived in an apartment here in town. He was convicted of a sexually related crime involving juveniles and we notified all families in that area that had juvenile children that this person was in the neighborhood.

“We do have a list of registered sex offenders. Lieutenant (Wayne) Gallant keeps that file and yes, if someone wants to know where they are, under the current laws, they have a right to know,” he added.

According to Rumford Police Department’s Registered Sex Offender Notification policy, final decision on the extent of notification is left up to the police chief, who should consider notification through, but is not limited to:

• Newspaper, television and radio media.

• The Internet.

• Personal notification in safe children zones and to all public or private elementary or secondary schools and licensed or known day-care centers.

• Billeting utility poles in safe children zones or other part of the community.

Also, notification at the police station may be made available to the public.

“If a person who is a convicted sex offender is new in the area and not supposed to be in a particular area, we could notify people in that area. We have in the past checked and let Probation and Patrol take care of it. But if they’ve served their time and they’re on probation, they shouldn’t be harassed,” Bourassa said.

He also objected to the new term “sexual violent predator” that was added to Maine’s sex offender statutes by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act of 1999.

“That used to be unlawful sexual contact, but now its sexual violent predator. Just because a label reads sexually violent doesn’t necessarily mean (offenders) are violent. But that’s the way the law reads.

“But I’m not saying that people that molest or rape little kids shouldn’t pay the price, but I think the label is misleading,” he added, noting that it could invoke unwarranted paranoia in communities.


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