Sex Offender Detail

THE HISTORY OF SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION

Sex Offender registration seems like an old idea now, but when the State Legislature unanimously passed the Community Protection Act of 1990, Washington became the first state in the nation to pass a law mandating community notification and requiring certain sex offenders to register their residence address upon release from incarceration.

SEATTLE CREATES AN EFFECTIVE MODEL

The new law had a dramatic effect on law enforcement, and how to implement these new responsibilities. SPD Detective Bob Shilling was one of the law enforcement professionals who first testified before the Washington State Legislature in favor of the Community Protection Act. In 1993, he took on the position of the Sex Offender Detail and began to make the new law into an enforceable reality. He did this by:

• Working closely with Department Legal Advisors and a small committee of dedicated SPD employees to read through the sex offender files and objectively assess their risk to the community. This assessment of risk as level 1, 2, or 3, helped set the standard for the classification system now used in many states in the United States.

• Holding community education meetings when a sex offender was moving into the area, to calm community concerns and limit the chances of vigilante acts.

• Meeting personally with the offenders to educate them on the registration process and to make sure they knew they were being held accountable, resulting in a 93% compliance rate by 1995.

After Congress passed Megan’s Law in 1996, which required national community notification for sex offenders, Seattle was looked to as a model on how to do this effectively, and Det. Shilling was asked to educate other agencies and jurisdictions from all over the United States and Canada.

SEX OFFENDER REGISTRATION TODAY

Twelve years later, Det. Shilling still works in the Sex Offender Detail and it has grown to an extremely dedicated team of professionals, who all operate with a goal of “no more victims.”

Over the last 10 years this unit has:

• Maintained its very high rate compliance by offenders.

• Authored 10 pieces of sex offender legislation that have been passed into state law.

• In 2005, through a partnership with the citywide web team, online sex offender notification was added to the police website.

Governor Christine Gregoire signs in Senate House Bill 2223 in April of 2005. The bill, authored by SPD Detective Bob Shilling, saves significant time and money for law enforcement to maintain Sex Offender records.