Sex offenders may be posted on local cable

Taking a lead from nearby communities, Everett officials are one step closer to using cable television to post the pictures, names, and addresses of Level 3 sex offenders who live and work in the city.

In an unanimous vote Tuesday, the city's Public Safety Committee approved a measure that would broadcast the sex offenders' information on Channel 16, the city's community cable channel. The plan still requires the approval of the full City Council and the Board of Aldermen.

The use of cable would be an addition to the Police Department's policy of posting fliers at several city locations, including the Police Department, City Hall, schools, the skating rink, library, post office, and the Recreation Department.

After seeing communities such as Revere and Lowell taking steps to broadcast the names and faces of Level 3 sex offenders, City Council president Joseph F. Hickey, who is also a member of the Public Safety Committee, said he thought it would be a ''great idea" to do the same in Everett, and suggested it to the committee.

Detective Sergeant Paul M. Landry said he spoke Tuesday to the committee about the department's obligation to inform the community about Level 3 sex offenders and added that the next step should be the community cable channel. There are four Level 3 sex offenders registered in the city, one a resident and the rest employees of companies located in the city, Landry said. None of the offenders, all men, lives or works near areas frequented by children, including schools, parks, or day-care centers, Landry said.

''This is just another avenue to let people know," Landry said. ''People shouldn't be up in arms that, 'This guy lives or works in my neighborhood,' they just need to be aware. Knowledge is power and it's important for people to know what's going on."

According to the state Sex Offender Registry Board, a Level 3 classification is given to offenders who are considered highly likely to repeat the offense and who pose a ''degree of dangerousness" to the public.

When the presentation was made last Tuesday, police said they had identified an additional Level 3 sex offender working in the city. However, he has since been taken off Everett's rolls because it was determined that he had been laid off in October 2002. Landry said police were just notified by the sex offender's former employer that the sex offender had been laid off.

Committee members were most concerned about this particular offender because the company he worked for is near the Madeline English School.

''It's like putting an alcoholic [to work] in a beer factory," Hickey said. ''It's crazy."

Landry said Everett Police are working with police in the community where that sex offender lives to find out why he failed to report his job status to his community of residence, as is required by law.

Under Sex Offender Registry rules, a sex offender who fails for the first time to provide notice of address or place of employment could be sentenced to a house of correction for up to 2 years, no more than five years in state prison, and/or be given a fine of $1,000.

Landry said the Police Department is also working with a State Police task force to find sex offenders who live or work in the community but have not registered with police.

A representative for Channel 16 told committee members that the sex offender information -- about a three-minute segment designed by police -- could run just before live meetings are broadcast, Hickey said. The information will include disclaimers indicating that the Level 3 offenders are not wanted by police and that people should not harass or discriminate against them, Landry said.

Hickey said it is important for residents to have easy access to information about Level 3 sex offenders.

''We've got to keep the people in the neighborhood involved so that people can look at their children and who their children are associating with and who their husband or who their wife is talking to, so people are informed of who's next door," Hickey said. ''It's good to keep the people informed and know who's living beside you or above you or below you or across the street from you, and to keep the people and the children aware of what their surroundings are."

Michael K. Marchese, chairman of the Public Safety Committee and a Ward 3 alderman, said this latest effort should complement a request recently approved by the Board of Aldermen that requires taxis and livery companies to place a sticker on their windshields and license plates for identification, so that parents who use those services and school officials who oversee student pickup know they are reputable companies.

As far as the broadcast on Channel 16, Marchese said he expects the measure to pass at the council and aldermen levels, and that it could be in effect by the end of April.

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com.