Beware of false sense of security

By the SVN Editorial Board

Comments (...)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Comments

“Project Safe Halloween” is the name of Sheriff Kelly Wilhelmi’s mandatory Halloween meeting for all sex offenders on probation.

It will take place from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Saturday, which is the same time frame designated for trick or treating across the county.

While that will help reduce one of the holiday’s dangers to children, parents and children should not be lulled into a false sense of security.

Whiteside sex offenders on probation equal 28, but the county has 107 registered sex offenders. That means 79 will be left to their own devices during trick or treating.

No similar probation meetings are planned elsewhere in the Sauk Valley, so other registered sex offenders, whether on probation or otherwise, won’t be under the watchful eye of probation officers.

For the record, Lee County has 59 registered sex offenders, Ogle has 57, Bureau, 46, and Carroll, 21, according to the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.

Of course, it is illegal for registered sex offenders on probation, parole or conditional discharge to hand out Halloween candy. But sex offenders not under those constraints are not similarly restricted.

We therefore encourage parents and children not to let their guard down because one-fourth of Whiteside County’s sex offenders are temporarily off the streets.

Besides, enough other hazards exist to keep families on their toes.

Parents and kids need to be careful around traffic, which poses an increasing risk as darkness falls. Kids also need to wear safe costumes; have a parent check out their goodies; not go inside homes to accept treats; walk on sidewalks, not streets; take a flashlight so they can avoid trips or falls while out after dark; and use common sense.

Such preparations can help keep Halloween fun, not frightful.

As for Wilhelmi’s “Project Safe Halloween,” it won’t hurt to have 28 sex offenders isolated from the public while hundreds of children walk the streets. We trust, though, that the sheriff’s upcoming election campaign had nothing to do with his decision to schedule the well-publicized meeting.