Tampa City Council looks into banning sex offenders

Friday, January 19, 2007

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The Tampa City Council is taking aim at sex offenders.

The council voted unanimously Thursday to explore banning sex offenders from living within city limits. Now the council just has to find out if it can be done legally.

"These crimes are disgusting and despicable," said council member John Dingfelder, but he cautioned against passing any ordinance that might be unconstitutional. "We have a delicate balance to be walking.''

This latest response comes after months of discussions about where sex offenders could live in the city. Under a state law passed in October 2004, people convicted of committing certain sex crimes on children younger than 16 can't live within 1,000 feet of any school, day care center, park or playground.

Last year, the city council voted to look into expanding the distance to 2,500 feet. On Thursday, council members learned that the plan would concentrate sex offenders in just a few neighborhoods, including the area between Westshore Boulevard and the bay, around the University of South Florida and in New Tampa.

So they voted unanimously to ask city attorneys to determine whether banning sex offenders from moving into the city is constitutional. The ban would not affect sex offenders already living legally in Tampa, only those who want to move to or within the city, or who became a sex offender after the ordinance took effect.

Information from Bay News 9's partner paper, the St. Petersburg Times, was used in this report.

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