Criteria for sex offender homes up for public comment

Under the proposal, released yesterday for public comment, the state would allow such housing only where police can respond within five minutes. And the homes could not be next to schools, school-bus stops or day care centers.

Sexually violent predators are housed at the state's Special Commitment Center at McNeil Island prison. The center holds offenders believed most likely to commit new sex crimes if released after serving prison terms. It was established in 1990 under a state law that allows civil commitment of some sex offenders for mental health treatment.

Under one of the rulings from frequent court challenges to the law, the state Department of Social and Health Services must improve treatment, give SCC residents a chance to be released and create a "less restrictive alternative" to the McNeil Island facility. In other words, the state needs to find community homes for some of society's most feared members.

Yesterday's siting criteria proposal seeks to ensure that residents of such secure community homes will have continually supervised access to jobs and mental health treatment.

The most important proposed siting criteria is that police be able to respond to the homes in five minutes or less, said Tim Brown, acting assistant DSHS secretary.

"It is really clear that many, many people would like (predators) to be a long, long distance away," Brown said. But he said a 13-citizen advisory committee that includes police, prosecutors and victim advocates concluded that response time is more important than distance in siting the homes.

Brown said that if DSHS had to site the homes a mile away from vulnerable locations, the homes would have to be on the periphery of communities, much too far from police and therapeutic services for the residents.

But the proposed criteria would prohibit the homes from being in the line of sight or immediately adjacent to vulnerable-population locations.

And residents of the homes will not be allowed to leave without staff accompaniment.

Brown said decisions are expected by Nov. 17 on the siting criteria and by Dec. 1 on the first home site.

The preliminary criteria can be viewed online at www.wa.gov/dshs/ and comments can be sent to Dennis Braddock, DSHS Siting Criteria, P.O. Box 45010, Olympia, WA, 98504-5010. Comments by e-mail should be sent to sitingcriteria@dshs.wa.gov.

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattle-pi.com