A move in Florida and other states to bar registered sex offenders from using
public hurricane shelters has not been adopted in South Carolina so far.
Emergency officials say the Red Cross here requires law enforcement officers to
staff the shelters.
"All shelters have security. It's standard practice. You always have
security. That's just good operation, protecting the public," said Ken Harrell,
Dorchester County emergency services director. Cathy Haynes, Charleston County
emergency preparedness director, agreed that the Red Cross requires the
officers.
A spokesman for the Red Cross' Carolinas Lowcountry chapter said the
humanitarian organization "requests" the officers if they are available. The Red
Cross runs hurricane shelters.
Louisiana state law requires sex offenders to be housed in shelters separated
from public shelters. Texas does it as a matter of policy, according to the
state's Homeland Security director. At least seven counties in Florida require
separated shelters.
Identifying offenders, much less segregating them, is a daunting task in
emergency conditions such as a hurricane evacuation. Civil libertarians say the
policies go too far for a singled-out set of felons who already are banned from
living near schools, churches, parks, gyms, swimming pools and bus stops across
the country.
The policies don't discriminate between violent offenders and offenders in
crimes such as statutory rape, in which the circumstances might have been
consensual.
"You couldn't deny fire protection to a sex offender or anybody else. Once a
person is in society, he's entitled to the same safety everyone else is," said
Andy Weiner, president of the Charleston chapter of the Americans for Civil
Liberties Union.
A South Carolina Emergency Management spokesman said a statewide ban has not
been discussed. Haynes said handling individuals with a criminal record was
brought up last year in a multi-agency discussion about Hurricane Katrina
evacuees in the area, but was not pursued after an official with the Red Cross
chapter said it was not its policy to investigate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reach Bo Petersenat 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.
