More than 800 sex offenders are registered in Thurston County, Sheriff’s Office says
More than 800 sex offenders are registered in Thurston County, the county announced Thursday with a press release from the Sheriff’s Office.
Of those, 74 are registered as transient, and 90 percent of those that are transient live in cities.
“We’re seeing more sex offenders in Thurston County,” Sheriff John Snaza told The Olympian. “And it sucks.”
Lt. Ray Brady said sex offenders are required to register by statute, but they’ve already served their sentences for the crimes they were convicted of.
“Most of them — all of them — have already paid their debt to society as far as their sentences, and the vast majority of the offenders are doing what they’re required to do,” Brady said.
Most of the registered sex offenders — 82 percent — are Level I offenders, according to the release. Level I offenders are determined to carry a low risk of reoffending.
About 12.5 percent are Level II, who officials have determined carry a moderate risk of reoffending; and a little over 5 percent are Level III, determined to be at a high risk to reoffend.
Brady said the Sheriff’s Office is required by statute to register, track and issue notifications about sex offenders, and that the office employs three people to work on the sex offender registration program: two detectives and one legal assistant.
“Several times a month, we send deputies out to all the addresses, over 800 locations, to make sure people are living where they’re supposed to,” Brady said. How often they verify addresses varies by level: once per year for Level I offenders, twice for Level II offenders, and quarterly for Level III offenders.
Transient registered offenders are required to check in at the office once a week, Brady said.
Snaza said the department issued Thursday’s release partly because “there’s been 800 for a little while,” and he said they hadn’t seen that number before.
According to data provided by the Sheriff’s Office, the average number of registered sex offenders in Thurston County per month has risen in recent years:
In 2017, the office reported an average of 750 total registered sex offenders.
In 2018, the office reported an average of 786 total registered sex offenders.
From January to August of this year, the office has reported an average of 793 registered sex offenders.
That would mean the average population of registered sex offenders in the county grew by about 5.7 percent. According to data from the Thurston Regional Planning Council, the county’s population grew by 3.2 percent — from 276,900 to 285,800 — between 2017 and 2019.
Brady said the office is noticing a rise in the number of transient offenders. The office’s data shows the average percentage of those registered who were transient was about 6 percent in 2017, 7.2 percent in 2018, and 8.4 percent so far this year.
The office is showcasing the data at a time when tensions surrounding the area’s homeless population are running high.
In September, a shooting outside the McDonald’s near Grand Mound left one transient man dead. According to a witness account included in the prosecutor’s statement of probable cause, the man charged in the case first approached a different transient man, asking if he was panhandling and if he was a pedophile.
When asked whether he was concerned highlighting this data might encourage hostility toward the county’s homeless population, Snaza said no, because the office also puts out information about where other registered sex offenders live.
“The reality is that there are sex offenders amongst the homeless population, just as there are sex offenders amongst the housed population,” Snaza said. “So, I’m not asking anybody to take any action against individuals or to hold it against them.”
He also said that the release, which includes how many of the transient registered sex offenders live in a city, isn’t related to his stance on a potential homeless mitigation site on Carpenter Road near Lacey that’s been a topic of county discussions.
He did, though, take the opportunity to say he’s “confused as to why that would even be a good place to send anybody,” given that the resources are in downtown Olympia.
Snaza says he wants people to take away this message:
“I just want people to be aware of it. Just, hopefully, maybe talk to your kids about it. I’m not saying to be overprotective, but sometimes as parents we get caught up in our own daily lives and we don’t talk to our children about being inappropriately touched or abused or somebody trying to do something to us that is not excusable.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
.jpg)