"Goodbye America. Tell me sane peole actually back this law?"


By Dave Choate
dchoate@seacoastonline.com
April 06, 2008 6:00 AM

Those who peer at children in public could find themselves on the wrong side of the law in Maine soon.

A bill that passed the House last month aims to strengthen the crime of visual sexual aggression against children, according to state Rep. Dawn Hill, D-York.

Her involvement started when Ogunquit Police Lt. David Alexander was called to a local beach to deal with a man who appeared to be observing children entering the community bathrooms. Because the state statute prevents arrests for visual sexual aggression of a child in a public place, Alexander said he and his fellow officer could only ask the man to move along.

"There was no violation of law that we could enforce. There was nothing we could charge him with," Alexander said.

He attended a talk with Hill a week later and brought the case to her attention. Hill pledged to do what she could, Alexander said, and the result was a change through the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee in the House, which made the law applicable in both private and public places.

Alexander said he's grateful Hill was willing to take up the cause, and is hopeful the measure will clear the Senate.

"I'll be pleased that we were able to identify this flaw and take steps to rectify it," he said.

Under the bill, if someone is arrested for viewing children in a public place, it would be a Class D felony if the child is between 12 to 14 years old and a Class C felony if the child is under 12, according to Alexander.

Hill said she believes the move was necessary to correct what she called a "loophole" in the state's criminal law statutes.

"I told Lt. Alexander that I would be happy to work with him and sponsor a bill that would correct this in the 2008 session," Hill said. "And so we did."

In arguing for the bill, Alexander said she cited public rest rooms as places where the people using them should have a reasonable expectation of privacy. She said the committee determined that there would not be any major side effects from expanding the statute to include public places.




The bill recently cleared a fiscal review, done because of the state's major prison budget crunch, and Hill said it should be heading to the Senate before long.

York Police Chief Doug Bracy said the statute would represent a fairly minor change that would help keep the public safer, especially children. He noted that York police respond fairly regularly to reports of public peepers on the town's beaches.

With ever-growing concern over sexual predators, Bracy said the arrests will also allow police to check backgrounds and determine if there is a criminal history involved.

"There is a growing outcry by the public to protect our children," Bracy said, noting that tourists from all over the country visit York.

Wow, we have officially hit a new level of stupid.

I especially love this term "Public peepers at the beach"

Yeah, I am actually really curious as to how many people are going to come on here and say this is a great idea. I am not going to name any names but I can think of some people on here I think will support it

well here we go again

pretty soon they will have three soothsayers saying
that person is going to commit a crime in the future
and have them arrested for no apparent reason

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what about the father that escorts ihis daughter to the restroom and is standing there waiting for her to exit the rest room

and how will they know if he really is there for that reason

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land of the free (i think not)

See thats the problem nowadays. People just assume they know whats going on at all times. They never think of outside circumstances. They just see something they think is wrong and fight to hell and back to make it so it can never happen again. Even if that means making new laws that endangers everyones personal freedom. I can't believe that someone on that police force thought it was a good idea not to mention whoever decided. Hey this is a great idea for a new law! We don't have enough right now putting people in jail. Lets go for people looking at children in public

You see that 70 year old man sitting over there on the bench enjoying his sunday afternoon feeding the ducks? I think he just glanced at my daughter trying to play with the ducks! How dare he! POLICE POLICE!!

I think this may be taking things a little too far. I understand the concept of not wanting ones children to be the object of lust to someone, but how do we know unless we can read their mind of what they are thinking???

proper burka now required for all beach visitors

The proposed law may seem extreme, but I do agree with its intent - to protect children. You can argue your "freedom" all you want, but I think children need to be protected from these pedophile monsters.

and here we go......

well how willanyone know why some one is there

and maybe

you will be at the beach and get picked up cause of some boy
who happens to be in the area in the direction you happen to be looking

no forethought b4 support is the problem in this country

oh itz for the children it has to be good NOT

the road to h-ll is paved with good intentions

yet another attempt to legislate morality. Keep giving the police any excuse to pick people up, hold them, and background check them

Thats how people get things done now a days. No matter what they do they just throw in there. But this is for the children. Won't someone think of the children.

Then either you agree and help the cause or you disagree and you are a monster. Unfortunately the sheep of the world are the majority of people and this kind of nonsense gets passed more than it should.

Yep, here we go. I agree with your side where there might (or will) be people falsely accused. On the other hand, do you not agree that saving a child from being molested is a good idea?

Well the worst part of it all, is that even a charge of such a crime, even if you are found innocent, will stay on your police record, and can affect your chances of getting some jobs.

sure, execute any and all 100% PROVEN child molesters. There should be no reprieve. If there is undeniable proof that you have molested anyone through violent force you should swing from the galows

Okay, then you answer one question that was asked. A father takes his daughter to the rest rooms and is waiting for her. The police get suspicious. They don't believe him and take him away, now the daughter comes out and Daddy is gone and she is alone.

What then????

Of course children not getting molested is a good thing but this is not the issue here. This is a matter of with this law being passed. What then constitues as leering or watching children.

For example. I like to people watch. I like to see how people think and act. It helps me understand the human mind a little more. So a lot of times I will go to a public park or a mall and just grab a bench and see what I can find. Now obviously I am not scoping out bathroom areas or anything like that like this guy was. But under this law that park and mall are public places and if I happen to look at some kid I could be arrested even though my intentions are purely psychology based. (I am a criminal justice/psychology student for the record.) You can learn a lot from people by just sitting and watching.

This will hurt more innocent people then it will stop guilty people