By Roger Ball

Independent Newsmedia

While Sun Cities residents view their communities as fairly safe, they could have neighbors that are in the criminal system.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety Offender Registry currently shows 14 convicted sexual offenders living in Sun City West, and 63 residing in Sun City. One of the registered offenders is a female and all the others are males.

DPS provides an OffenderWatch website to continually monitor addresses and information of offenders living in the state. DPS officials are tracking 7,581 registered offenders in Arizona.

The site contains the name, photograph, address, physical description and assigned risk level of each offender.

Dr. Diane Cheney, Sun City West resident and psychologist, said there seems to have been an increase in the number of offenders moving into the Sun Cities in recent years.

“What it doesn't state is that only two years ago there were just seven and it had remained pretty steady at that rate,” she said.

She believes there is a reason for the increase.

“I believe that other states have been looking for senior communities for sexual predators of children since there are rules about how close they can live to a school and the limited contact they are supposed to have,” she added.

But law enforcement agencies that monitor sex offender residences claim. they have no proof of that.

Trooper Quentin Mehr, DPS public information officer stated in an email, “We are unaware of any such incidents involving sex offenders receiving any such encouragement.”

Deputy Calbert Gillett of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said the same for MCSO.

“The MCSO is not aware of any such activity either.”

There are very few restrictions about where registered sex offenders may reside, and that applies only to those classified as a level three offender. Convicted sexual offenders are assigned a level of risk when released. Level-one means low risk, level-two represents intermediate risk and level-three is a high-risk level.

Arizona law prohibits a level three offender from residing within 1,000 feet of any school, child care facility or the residence of the person’s former victim.

According to the website of the Tyler Allen law firm in Phoenix, the state looks at 19 different criteria for its classification process.

“The criteria assessed are believed to be strong predictors of a sex offender’s future behavior,” the site stated.

The DPS site lists four people as level three in Sun City West, representing 29 percent of the registered offenders in that community. In Sun City there are 25 listed as level three, representing 40 percent of the registered offenders there.

Each state sets its own criteria, so someone moving on Arizona from another state may have a different classification after arriving and being re-evaluated.

Arizona law requires convicted sexual offenders to have a special credential from the Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles and must notify law enforcement of any address change within 72 hours.

The United States Department of Justice website stated that 45 percent of sexual assault victims are under the age of 12, and 75 percent of the victims knew their attacker.

The public can go to the DPS website that tracks offenders and search by city, address or name.  The site has the offenders’ photos, names, addresses and classifications. Residents can also register to receive automatic email updates from the DPS if any registered sex offender moves to within one mile of a particular address, eliminating the need to manually check the maps. There is no cost for this service.

If a resident learns of a registered offender living nearby, harassing that person is not permitted.

Sgt. Joaquin Enriquez of the MCSO said, “Just to be clear, it’s illegal to harass anyone if it rises to the level of possible prosecution.”

Visit www.azdps.gov/offender.