Protect children from predators

Recent events make it clear that society does not yet know how to protect its citizens - especially its children - from sexual predators.

Eventually, some kind of national registry may be needed to assure that offenders who are released from jail are not overlooked. Increased prison time is probably also on the horizon.

In the meantime, Flathead County has a new tool for finding missing children and notifying residents about violent sex offenders in their neighborhoods which may help to prevent a tragedy like the one that took place recently in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Undersheriff Mike Meehan scouted out a system, free to the county, that could be invaluable if it is ever needed. The system can transmit 1,000 phone messages a minute to homes and businesses in any area where a child or disabled person goes missing. The message describes the person and directs anyone with information to call local law enforcement.

The program can also be used to notify residents when someone designated as a sexual predator moves into the neighborhood.

In February 2004, authorities did what they could to notify residents about a Maine resident who had moved to Whitefish with a history of sex crimes against children. Wilbur Rytky was designated a violent sexual offender, and Whitefish Police took the unusual step of circulating his photo to schools, day cares and other law-enforcement agencies. Unfortunately, before the year was out, Rytky was arrested for molesting a mentally disabled teenager.

The new system refines the effort of notifying people of a danger in their community. It gets information directly into people's homes, rather than leaving it to chance whether they will see a flyer or news report about it.

The public can also access a complete list of sex offenders in their midst. In Montana, the registry is found online at http://www.doj.mt.gov/svor/search.asp

We think it is appropriate that residents should be able to know if their new neighbor or their daughter's new boyfriend or the employee at a business frequented by children has a criminal sexual history.

Unfortunately, one of the flaws of the current system is that it is comprised of 50 independent state registries that don't necessarily communicate with one another when an offender crosses a state line.

That needs to change.

The truth is, until there is a national registry for sex offenders, we might not know for sure if an offender has arrived in the Flathead with the unfathomable capability to kill and rape as James Edward Duncan is alleged to have done in Coeur d'Alene.

As a society, we must not tolerate sex offenders who prey on children. For most people, it is not acceptable that someone who violently molests a child should ever be given a second chance to walk the streets.

The state Legislature should make the safety of our children their No. 1 priority in the next session. No more Jessica Lunsfords or Dylan Groenes should die because society put them in harm's way by letting predators loose or by losing track of them.

The sheriff's office should be commended for taking a step in the right direction locally, but much more needs to be done.