Currently there are no laws or guidelines in the city of Commerce pertaining to distances registered sex offenders have to stay from areas where children congregate.
Lt. Jason Bone with the University Police Department said the city has passed an ordinance before, but right now any legislation regarding sex offenders is in litigation.
He said there should be some statues in effect, but despite the lack of city law, A&M-Commerce has its own way of dealing with sex offenders that are also students.
“At the beginning of every semester students who are registered sex offenders are required to come in and visit with us,” Bone said.
According to Bone, although there are requirements they are not always followed
“There is no teeth in the rule if they don’t come see us,” he said.
Currently there is only one student on campus who is a registered sex offender, but according to Bone he will be coming off probation soon and will no longer have to register with the city.
Bone said there has only been one time he felt it was necessary to alert professors about a student sex offender in his career, but no incident occurred with the student and after a semester he left the campus.
“Typically student sex offenders come to school, they graduate and they move on with no problem,” he said.
Although they are important, Bone has some issues with the sex offender laws.
“A fraternity brother of mine became a teacher and had an affair with a student,” he said. “The girl’s parents found out and pressed charges against him and now he has to register as a sex offender. He married the same girl and as far as I know is still married to her today, but still has to register.”
Because of issues like these, Bone said the sex offender laws need to be looked at.
“In my mind, the sex offender laws should be for predators,” he said.
According to www.commercepolice.net, there are 10 registered sex offenders living in Commerce, including the one student.
Bone said Detective Sgt. Chris Vaughan of the Commerce Police Department and is in charge of dealing with sex offenders in the city, has a good relationship with the UPD and the two of them are able to work together when necessary.
With that in mind, Bone said it is important to keep in mind what warrants contacting the police and what does not.
He said if there is an issue between co-workers or students involving inappropriate name calling, the Human Resources department are the people to contact. It is a different story when touching is involved though.
“As soon as inappropriate touching occurs, contact the UPD,” Bone said. “We take criminal action very seriously.”
Students can find a full list of registered sex offenders in Commerce as well as a link to the Texas database of sex offenders at www.commercepolice.net/SexOffender.htm.