Small town of Genoa, Nebraska (population 1000) overreacts to Registered Person moving in with "school lock out"

The small town of Genoa overreacts to registrant moving into the community, and it is likely that not only was the overreaction uncalled for, then it may have been against the law. 

Nebraska Statutes 29-4017.

Political subdivision restrictions on sex offender residency; requirements.

(1) A political subdivision may enact an ordinance, resolution, or other legal restriction prescribing where sex offenders may reside only if the restrictions are limited to sexual predators, extend no more than five hundred feet from a school or child care facility, and meet the requirements of subsection (2) of this section.

(2) An ordinance, resolution, or other legal restriction enacted by a political subdivision shall not apply to a sexual predator who:

(a) Resides within a prison or a correctional or treatment facility operated by the state or a political subdivision;

(b) Established a residence before July 1, 2006, and has not moved from that residence; or

(c) Established a residence after July 1, 2006, and the school or child care facility triggering the restriction was established after the initial date of the sexual predator’s residence at that location.

(3) Any ordinance, resolution, or other legal restriction prescribing where sex offenders may reside which does not meet the requirements of this section is void, regardless of whether such ordinance, resolution, or legal restriction was adopted prior to, on, or after July 14, 2006.

There IS no statewide law, only the allowance of local ordinances, and as far as I know, only Omaha has such an ordinance in place. Genoa is not a suburb of Omaha. It isn’t even in the same county. It is a small town of about 1000.

So either the Nebraska State Patrol is flat out lying, ot they are ignorant. I can find no ordinances for Genoa or Nance County that addresses this at all. But even if it was true, the lockdown is the most ridiculous thing I've heard all day. 

ADDENDUM: Yesterday, a rep from Nebraskans Unafraid contacted the town of Genoa to inquire about the ordinance. They told her they’d have the ordinance copied and emailed to her by 10am, then they bcked off and said they can’t do it.

I did a sweep of Nebraska’s local ordinances and so far, I’ve checked 66 municipal codes, including the laegest (Omaha) and the smallest town being of only 400 people. Of the 66 ordinances, all but 18 of them have an ordinance in place.

Nearly all have the same wording, as if someone made a template law and the other downs copy-pasted it. Nearly all start with this:

“The Nebraska Legislature has found that certain sex offenders present a high risk to commit repeat offenses and has enabled municipalities to restrict such persons’ place of residency as provided in the Sexual Predator Residency Restriction Act.

Sex offenders who prey on children and who are high risks to repeat such acts present an extreme threat to public safety. The cost of sex offender victimization to these children and to society at large, while incalculable, is exorbitant.*

It is the intent of this ordinance to serve the Village’s compelling interest to promote, protect and improve the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the Village by creating certain areas around locations where children regularly congregate in concentrated numbers where certain sexual predators cannot reside.”

There are a few things of interest to note:

1. Nearly all the existing ordinances were passed in 2005/2006, leading me to believe these ordinances were a reactionary response to Iowa’s 2005 restrictions, the 2000 foot laws that were so onerous, many fled Iowa to surrounding states (Nebraska borders Iowa to the west; Omaha, NE’s largest city, borders Iowa).

2. These ordinances were made to specifically target “Sexual Violent Predators”, but the state stopped making that determination in 2009.

I’m thinking that either the Genoa ordinance does not exist, or if it does, it may be using language that applies to nobody currently listed on the registry.

https://nebraska.tv/news/local/school-placed-in-lock-out-during-sex-offender-investigation

School placed in "lock out" during sex offender investigation

by KHGIWednesday, March 10th 2021

GENOA, Neb. — Twin River Public Schools was briefly placed in “lock out” Tuesday while the Nance County Sheriff’s Office measured the distance between the residence of a recently-registered sex offender and the school.

In a Facebook post, the sheriff’s office said 27-year-old George Kelly registered at the Nebraska State Patrol office in Norfolk and listed a Genoa address. NSP explained to Kelly that he could not live within 500 feet of a school or childcare facility per Nebraska statute.

Due to the proximity of the residence to the school, it was agreed upon to put the school in a "lock out" status, which kept students inside the building and kept outside visitors out of the building.

The Sheriff's Department measured the distance between the two properties and discovered that the distance was 237 feet, well within the 500 feet limit. Kelly agreed to immediately leave the property and register in another county. Kelly left, and the school returned to normal status.