On Thursday, a state Assembly committee will hold a public hearing on a bill to prohibit municipalities from drafting ordinances restricting where sex offenders can live. If the bill becomes law, municipalities like Franklin and many others around the state would see their restrictive ordinances taken off the books.
State Representative Donald Friske (R-Merrill) has proposed the bill, arguing that forcing sex offenders out of cities and villages will send them into rural areas where there aren’t as many law enforcement authorities to monitor their whereabouts.
Friske told the Green Bay Press Gazette, “"It also pits communities against each other. The safety and security of each community is equal. I don't know if we can start to say this community's more important because of this or the children of that community are entitled to less protection because they live there."
Green Bay has an ordinance in place similar to Franklin’s. Chad Fradette, president of Green Bay's City Council, who helped create the city's sex offender residency ordinance said, “If they keep the worst of the worst — the predators — in prison the rest of their lives, you won't need these laws. That's why this (residency) law was drafted in Green Bay. We're trying to force them to keep the predators in prison. If (Friske) was a real leader, he would solve the problem instead."
Franklin Alderman Steve Olson who helped write Franklin’s tough ordinance will submit testimony to the committee Thursday. Representatives from the Franklin-based group, Citizens for a Safe Wisconsin will also testify. They will offer a sound argument that the solution is not to wipe away restrictive ordinances like Franklin’s. The answer is for each municipality in the state to take in their own sex offenders once they’re released from custody. That way, offenders from Milwaukee could not be dumped in Franklin, or in Friske’s hometown of Merrill.
Friske’s bill is flawed because it has the state taking away local control from municipalities.
Meanwhile, Franklin’s ordinance, the model for so many others around the state, is working.
