News-Record.com

Bring up the subject of sex offenders, and most elected officials rush to get tough. High Point City Council members deserve credit for slowing down long enough to really think about a complex issue.

The proposal before them was familiar: banning registered sex offenders from public parks and recreation facilities. Greensboro's City Council adopted a similar measure in September. Mecklenburg County has done it. The N.C. Supreme Court ruled that the state's first ordinance of this kind, enacted in the small Buncombe County town of Woodfin, was not unconstitutional.

High Point City Councilman Mike Pugh summed up the overwhelmingly popular view: "I think if this prevents one child from being molested and one life from being ruined, then it's worth our every effort," he said at Monday's meeting. "This should be a no-brainer."

Yet Pugh turned out to be the only council member who supported immediate action. Others voted to refer the matter to the council's public safety committee for further study -- not a sensible action for an issue that's supposedly a "no-brainer."

But it isn't. Council members refused to hurry into a decision without enough information to proceed responsibly. They need to be sure they're addressing a real problem in the right way.

To the first point, Councilman Latimer Alexander said, "We have not had a case of a sex-offender problem in our parks to this point."

Certainly, as Pugh stated, no one wants to allow the first instance. The question is how to find the best approach to prevent it from happening.

Many sex offenders do commit additional sex crimes if given the chance. But these can occur anywhere, including homes. Individuals who are known to pose risks should be incarcerated, in treatment or at least closely monitored. If they're kept out of parks, they're going to be somewhere else when the urge to commit a crime takes hold.

Yes, parks should be safe places. So why don't cities take similar steps to bar people who have committed other dangerous crimes if that approach is effective?

It's a harsh remedy to tell someone, even a sex offender, that he can never fish in a city lake, play golf or tennis at a city facility or even watch his own child's soccer game on a city field. It's a harsh remedy to bar someone, even a sex offender, from employment as a maintenance worker who collects trash or mows the grass at a city park.

High Point can follow the lead of other local governments. Its leaders will be applauded. But there's nothing wrong with taking the time to think it through and make sure the action is necessary, effective and fair.