Peters Township police chief talks Megan’s Law
By Harry Funk
Staff writer
hfunk@thealmanac.net
When he was serving as commander of the Pennsylvania State Police Megan’s Law Section, Douglas Grimes often gave presentations about his job.
Along the way, he often heard stories that were similar to what one woman told him.
“I had this guy build a deck on the back of my house all summer,” she told him. “While he did that – he was such a nice guy – I went to work and left my kids at home with him. I never thought anything of it.”
But just prior to attending the Megan’s Law program, she decided to enter the man’s name into the website containing the state’s registry of sex offenders. And there he was.
“I am mortified. I can’t believe I put my kids in that position,” she admitted to Grimes, now Peters Township’s police chief.
He repeated the presentation recently at Peters Township Public Library, providing a brief history of applicable legislation before guiding audience members through how to conduct searches on www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us.
“It is, without a doubt, one of the best websites in the country for managing sex offenders and giving you information as to who they are, where they live, where they work, where they go to school and what they drive,” Grimes said. “It’s all there.”
The site also has a feature by which users can sign up for email notifications if sex offenders move into, or start working or attending school, an area within a selected radius.
Grimes, who headed the Megan’s Law Section from 2007-11, also helped dispel some general notions about sex offenders.
“They’re not the guy hiding behind the bushes waiting for you to walk to your car.,” he said. “They’re the Jerry Sandusky. They’re the Uncle Joe. These people who commit these acts are the ultimate con artists. They will have you believing they are the greatest person on the face of the earth.”
As for the Washington native and former Penn State defensive coordinator who was convicted for sexually abusing children, Grimes related that when his state police colleagues interviewed the mother of one of the victims, they were told: “There is no way in the world Jerry did this to my kid.”
“Now, what’s that kid supposed to do if he’s asked by police? Mom’s saying, ‘Hey, no way.’ Jerry’s a god in State College. He’s the heir apparent to Joe Paterno. How comfortable is that kid to come out and say, ‘Yeah, I’m a victim.’? It just doesn’t happen. And that’s why these things go on and on and on,” Grimes said.
While many people associate the term “sex offender” with crimes against children – Megan’s Law, for example, is named after a 7-year-old New Jersey murder victim – that’s far from always the case, according to Grimes.
“We have to get out of this notion that the only threat is to kids,” he said. “It’s not.”
The abduction and killing of another child, though, led to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, the 1994 legislation that marked the first efforts on a national level to keep track of offenders.
In 1996 came the Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act, named for an adult rape victim.
“She became a very strong advocate for sex offender registration and improved sex offender management at the national level,” Grimes explained. “That required interstate exchange of sex offender information between law enforcement and to the FBI.
Megan’s Law was enacted nationally the same year, with a requirement for each state to establish a community notification system. Pennsylvania’s version has undergone several changes, including the 2004 requirement that information on all registered sexual offenders be available to the public online.
“The intent of Megan’s Law is to empower you,” Grimes said, “to give you that ability, that opportunity, to at least know what threats exist.”