SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A bill Republican Rep. Aaron Aylward said was designed to protect children from sex offenders in South Dakota was too broad, several members of the House Judiciary Committee said Wednesday.
Aylward’s bill House Bill 1167A was sent to its death on a 41st Day motion. His original bill was amended by removing the word “loitering,” which meant that any sex offender who entered a safety zone would be in violation.
Those who voted against the bill said it went too far.
“I can’t support this today,” committee member Republican Rebecca Reimer said.
“I want to protect children,” Reimer said. But, “when I asked if a (sex offender) would get in trouble conducting everyday business (the response from Aylward was yes).”
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But committee member Republican Rep. David Kull, a retired police chief, said law enforcement can investigate reported incidents that involved a sex offender. The key is loitering and the intent, Kull said.
“Changing this from loitering to entering, from a law enforcement standpoint is very problematic,” Kull said.
In Sioux Falls, for example, a person can’t avoid a safety zone if they drive across town, because they have to cross the city’s bicycle trail system, which is a safety zone.
“I do believe it would prevent them from doing that,” Aylward said. Yet, he said, that isn’t the intent of the law”. There it is again “That’s not the intent of the law”. Sure, a PFR can be arrested and thrown back into prison for for simply driving across a bike trail on their way to Price Club on the other side of town…but that’s not the intent. These people are f@#king insane. And they think we’re a danger?
A parent brought up seeing a registrant at an elementary school, where the registrant wasn’t committing a sex crime otherwise it would of been mentioned. Does the parent know that classmates, teachers, family members, coaches, clergy, and others known to their offspring are a larger risk to their children? The safety zone should be around this parent’s logic because once a dummy, always a dummy.