Curt is Chicago native – but don’t hold that against him. After stops in Madison and California, he and his wife moved to Waukesha in 2004 to open their own downtown business.
If you haven’t yet heard, Waukesha has a new resident in the 300 block of East Main. Why is this significant?
On account of the fact that this man is a sexual offender, who has violated his parole twice in the past, and now resides among the general public again.
Why do I know this? For starters, the Waukesha Police Department took the time to notify me, as well as the other neighbors within a certain block radius.
Also, my neighbors told me he would be released. Furthermore, I make it a part of my day to check the sex offender registry online to keep updated on the location of any new offenders.
That’s what happens when you live in a City that takes proactive steps to keep the community safe. The Police talk to the neighbors, the neighbors talk to each other, and instead of running to hide, we make ourselves aware and safe.
It’s a reality, people. After serving their sentence, sex offenders are being released back into the communities (counties) they are from. There is nothing that will stop this from happening.
The way I see it, you have two choices in dealing with this situation. You can choose to whine, cry, and complain about it, or you can step up to the plate and become informed and aware.
If you choose the first, stop reading here, lock all of you doors and windows, and don’t ever leave the house. Start your own support group of narrow-minded individuals that choose to bury their heads in the sand.
If you chose the second, please read on.
Before anything else, it is important that you educate yourself on the issue. A great way to get up to speed is to check out the Wisconsin Department of Corrections website (www.offender.doc.state.wi.us/public).
Here you will find access to the names and addresses of the offenders in your area and, most importantly, an excellent question and answer section. Read it! Understand the levels of sexual offences. Not all offenders are rapist. Take a minute to look at the photos and rap sheets of the individuals in your area.
If you are still with me after that step, let’s move on.
Next, bring up a map of your area that shows where they live in proximity to your address (www.familywatchdog.us). This may freak you out a bit. Keep in mind- we are educating ourselves and we can do so because the Department of Corrections, the Police Department, and the City of Waukesha, work together to give us this information.
At this point, you have just bombarded yourself with information you probably would rather not want to know about. It’s important that you continue on.
Now talk about it. Discuss it with your spouse or call a neighbor. Most importantly, educate your kids about it. You don’t have to freak them out, just make them aware. Ignorance can be dangerous.
After all of this, sit back and congratulate yourself. You are taking positive steps to ensure you and your families are safe. You are aware. An aware community is a safe community.
If you have made it this far, then I want to reward you a small ray of hope in all of this.
A group called The Citizens Initiative for a Stronger Waukesha (CISW) is working toward developing solutions to the ever-increasing population of sexual offenders in Waukesha.
What is the CISW? It’s a grassroots volunteer group organized to better understand current issues that could affect the health, safety, welfare, and economic viability of the citizens of the City of Waukesha.
Sexual offenders in our community qualify as a current issue. Currently, the CISW is working with citizens and city officials to ensure that the City of Waukesha doesn’t become overwhelmed with sexual offenders. They have to go somewhere, but there needs to be a balance!
For more information on the CISW or if you would like to be in attendance at the next meeting, stay tuned to this blog.
None of us want to be experts on this. I don’t enjoy spending my free time discussing sexual offenders and researching their backgrounds.
However, today’s world demands it. Working together will make it a safe place to be.
My thanks to the City of Waukesha Police Department for taking the time to contact us, the Department of Corrections, for posting updated access to sex offender information on the web, and to my neighbors, for choosing to do something about this instead of ignoring it.
