Sex Offenders at UNA...and in General

Obviously, there's a difference between "sex offender" and "registered sex offender." Is it just that the plain ol' sex offender hasn't yet been caught/convicted?

We recently published an account of the University of North Alabama visiting prof who was alleged to have committed date rape with a female student:

David B. Dickerson

This man had a history of being accused of sexual assault. Accusations aren't convictions, but arrests do show up in some background reports. It depends on what kind of agency one uses for the report and just what is asked of that agency. Was UNA to blame for hiring this man? If he had no convictions, didn't he deserve a chance? Just how should such a situation be handled?

While there are no easy answers to these questions, we do know that a man in his 50s doesn't suddenly turn into a sexual predator. There had to have been other incidents that were simply not reported or that were covered up. We encourage every victim to report any sexual assaults, no matter how minor. You just may save someone else from something far worse.

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We see a lot of FB squabbles and don't get into most of them. A couple of years ago one of our regular readers sent us a link to his new blog and we posted it in our sidebar - that doesn't mean we agree with every thing he says anymore than we totally agree with all our guest bloggers. Yes, the blog is usually pretty critical in a sarcastic way, but his latest post contained a very interesting question concerning reporting of sex offender info: 

No. 3: Colbert County Sheriff Frank Williamson. You don't like Williamson. I get it. You criticized him for not reporting new sex offenders in a timely manner. Okay, let's say that your criticism is justified and not just some petty revenge on your part. Then what did you say? 

You criticized Williamson for not reporting to the state in a timely manner that two sex offenders had moved out of the county. Actually, all you know is that he (or the person responsible in his office) didn't remove them from the online site. If Williamson is responsible for immediately notifying the state of incoming sex offenders, why isn't the sheriff of the county where these two moved (and registered) responsible for notifying the state of the same thing? See, you can't have it both ways. 

We have to agree with our blogger friend there. Our opinion is the state needs to set up a better interface between the counties and ALEA. Better guidelines need to be established. If you're in doubt about sex offenders in your area, it would seem at least for now, you should consult county sites rather than the official ALEA page. That organization states that it's behind with data; perhaps we need to demand more manpower? Ah, more taxes also. No easy answers there either.