Communities are struggling with how to deal with convicted sex offenders living within their borders.

Parents are frightened, and legislators are trying to find answers within the law to protect children from predators.

But two bills before the Legislature go too far, and one would be virtually unenforceable.

L.D. 282, which is sponsored by Rep. Robert Berube, would not allow convicted sex offenders to live within 1,000-feet of the residence of any child, day care center or playground. Enforcing such a blanket prohibition would be untenable for police departments, which would be forced to track the whereabouts of every child in their community. Even if police could handle the new burden, it would put entire communities off-limits for sex offenders.

L.D. 285, submitted by Rep. Michael Vaughan, would prohibit convicted sex offenders from living in communities without municipal police departments.

We understand the concerns that motivate this legislation. People convicted of sexual crimes have a higher recidivism rate than other criminals, and an attack on a child is every parent’s worst nightmare.

But we can’t disregard the rights of people who have served their time and completed their sentences.

The best protection against the potential threat posed by sex offenders that also balances the rights of the individual is to be informed. Police need to carry out their responsibilities to tell communities about sex offenders living nearby, and that means more than just posting pictures and addresses of the sexual offender registry on the Web (www.informe.org/sor/).

And, most importantly, parents need to be aware that the world is a dangerous place and that children, especially younger ones, should be monitored as closely as possible.