After 6 Years, Sex Offender Trailers Closing Over Weekend

After six years of outcry from residents in Riverside and Westhampton outraged over two controversial homeless sex offender trailers sited in their communities, the long-awaited day has come: Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced Friday that the facilities are set to shutter.

The Riverside trailer is set to close first, with Westhampton coming next, and both closed by Tuesday.

Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, who has worked diligently for years to close the trailers, said Friday, "This was a hard fought victory."

Residents, Schneiderman predicted, will be overjoyed by the news. "They felt very dumped on here."

"We have cause for celebration," Scheiderman added Friday. "This six year nightmare in these communities is finally coming to an end."

Schneiderman outlined the history of the contentious issue, and said previous attempts to close the trailers were red lighted by former County Executive Steve Levy. 

Once new County Executive Bellone took office, Schneiderman said there was hope. 

"I always approach this issue as if the trallers were placed next to house where my kids were sleeping," Schneiderman said. "I vowed I would not rest until this was resolved."

Bellone said there has been a "misplaced focus on a handful" of offenders -- currently 26 -- that represents less than three percent of the sex offenders in Suffolk County. The goal was to implement a policy, he said, "that makes everyone safe in Suffolk County. The message is if you are a sex offender and you are not toe-ing the line, you will be re-arrested."

Bellone said only one offender per shelter in Suffolk County will be allowed; no offender will be able to stay in shelters where children are located.

Legislator Al Krupski said when he heard how the trailers were  moved to the communities and left there, he wondered how the "criminal populations could be dumped on the East End. It was kind of unbelievable."

Krupski said Superstorm Sandy delayed Bellone's efforts to shutter the facility but the county executive's intent never wavered.

"It must be a really big relief to the supervisors of Riverhead and Southampton to have this burden off their backs. Thank you to County Executive Bellone for keeping his promise," Krupski said.

Community member Andrea Spilka, who has fought against the trailers for years, said with hard work, you can effect change.

Mason Haas, Riverhead town assessor, has been diligent in fighting the issue, Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter said. "It was a broken program from the beginning," he said.

Schneiderman thanked the community members who never stopped fighting. "Their voices never quieted so there would be peace in these communities," he said.

Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said, "It may be Memorial Day but it feels like Christmas."

Perhaps the hardest thing, Throne-Holst said, was to hear from neighbors who were so affected by the problem but being unable to deal with it because Levy "was not willing to do what was the politically easy thing for him to do, but the right thing to do."

Throne-Holst said the story sounds like "a fairy tale, with a happy ending." Bellone, she said, "is a man of his word. What a difference a year makes." A year ago, she said, the county executive promised the trailers would close.

In February, Bellone unrolled a new plan for sex offenders, which was unveiled by law enforcement and Parents for Megan’s Law at the Suffolk County Legislature’s public safety committee meeting in Hauppauge.

The plan called for abolishing the current clustering of homeless sex offenders in one community. Instead, the trailers will close and homeless sex offenders will be relocated to other county shelters -- with only one registered sex offender per facility.

Law enforcement will be made aware of each individual and where they are living, with an eye toward enhanced monitoring and other community safeguards. Bellone said Friday there would be increased coordination between police departments.

According to Schneiderman, Parents for Megan’s Law will strengthen and support the Suffolk County Police Department’s program that verifies the addresses of all registered sex offenders within the county.

Address verification is one component of Bellone's eight-point plan to protect the community.

In addition, the plan includes using email, social media and other technology to better alert and notify the community.

The trailers have sparked a public outcry for years, with elected officials and residents railing against the inequity of siting both trailers -- and all of Suffolk County's homeless sex offenders -- on the East End.

Bellone explained the focus of the plan would be to ensure that sex offenders would not be clustered in any one neighborhood; instead, they would be spread across Suffolk County.

Bellone said there are 20 to 25 sites where homeless sex offender trailers will be sheltered, including traditional shelters and motels.

This week, eight sex offenders were arrested under the new plan, Bellone said -- an indication that the enhanced monitoring system is working.

Walter joked that the town's trucks were ready to hook up the trailers and haul them out of town.