AURORA — The Aurora Police Department is changing the way it notifies the community when a sexually violent predator moves into a neighborhood.
After poor attendance at community notification meetings, Aurora police will now put information about the predator on its website and run a program about the individual on the city’s cable access television station.
Division chiefs still have the option of holding meetings.
“Attendance at meetings has dropped off to near nothing,” said Aurora police Lt. Bob Stef.
At a meeting in December, the only people who showed up were the police. Last month, two people went to a notification meeting.
Chris Lobanov-Rostovsky, program manager for the sex-offender management unit of the Department of Public Safety, said the public may be desensitized toward sexually violent predators because the notification law was passed 10 years ago.
By law, police departments are required to notify the public when a sexually violent predator is released from prison.
“After the first SVP moves into an area, the public is up in arms and everyone attends the meeting,” Lobanov-Rostovsky said. “The second one comes in, they already have the info and perhaps they are feeling less urgent.”
It costs Aurora up to $650 per notification meeting, Stef said. That includes the cost of fliers and going door to door telling residents that a predator is moving nearby.
Predators who were living on the streets also posed a problem for Aurora police. Recently, a predator was released from prison and said he was living in his car, making it hard to pin down his address.
“Every time he moved and relocated to another location in the city, we’d have to do the public notification again,” Stef said.
Lakewood recently changed to online and public-television notifications, said police spokesman Steve Davis.
Some predator notifications are viewed online hundreds of times. That’s a much greater impact than a meeting, Davis said. And a program about the predator airs over several days and at different times.
Davis said the department changed its process about a year ago after low attendance at meetings.
Lakewood still sends out mailings to people who live in the area where a sexually violent predator will be located. The mailings also note the times of television programs about the predator.
“The bottom line is to get the word out to people, whatever is best,” Davis said. “Frankly, if it were me and I could see it in the comfort of my own home instead of going to a meeting, I’d rather do that.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175 or cillescas@denverpost.com
