Tulsa Police working with state lawmakers concerning safe zone laws

Tulsa's sex crimes detectives are working with state legislators to change the state's safe zone laws. <br/><br/>Right now, no convicted sex offenders are allowed to live within 2,000 feet of

Friday, January 6th 2006, 5:47 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa's sex crimes detectives are working with state legislators to change the state's safe zone laws.

Right now, no convicted sex offenders are allowed to live within 2,000 feet of a school. In addition, they can't hang-out within 300 feet of a playground.

Tulsa Police say the problem is all sex offenders are lumped together. There's no distinction between people who are a threat to children and those who are not. Tulsa Police Sgt John Adams, Tulsa Police: "The safe zone around schools is designed to protect children. Obviously, a woman who exposed her breasts at a concert is no threat to school children. A child molester is a threat to a school."

Detectives want the law changed to a tiered system where sex offenders are categorized not by their crime, but by the age of their victim. In that system, the safe zones would only apply to those people who target children and are more likely to repeat their crimes.

That would allow police to spend more time on the most dangerous criminals.