SA-18 Notification on Convicted Sexual Offenders

Purpose
To increase the safety and welfare of the Green River College community by providing timely and appropriate notification to the College community of the presence or enrollment of a convicted sexual offender or kidnapping offender. This notification shall be in accordance with applicable state law and be in such a manner that increases safety without creating excessive anxiety among students or staff, without contributing to a possible punitive action by some, and without causing undue damage to the positive college environment enjoyed by students and staff. This policy is not intended as a directive for faculty and staff to monitor conduct nor to report to any agency.

Authority
Public agencies are authorized to release information to the public regarding sex offenders and kidnapping offenders when the agency determines that disclosure of the information is relevant and necessary to protect the public and to counteract the danger created by a particular offender.

This applies to any information regarding:

• Any person convicted of a sex offense as defined in RCW 9A.44.130 or a kidnapping offense as defined by RCW 9A.40;
• Any person under the jurisdiction of the indeterminate sentence review board as the result of a sex or kidnapping offense;
• Any person committed as a sexually-violent predator under chapter 71.09 RCW or as a sexual psychopath under chapter 71.06 RCW;
• Any person found not guilty of a sex or kidnapping offense by reason of insanity under chapter 10.77 RCW; and
• Any person found incompetent to stand trial for a sex or kidnapping offense and subsequently committed under chapter 71.05 RCW or 71.34 RCW (RCW 4.24.550(1)).

Sex and kidnapping offenders who are admitted to the College must, within ten days of enrolling or by the first business day after arriving, whichever is earlier, notify the Sheriff of the offender’s intent to attend the College. The sheriff then notifies the College’s public safety office. (RCW 9A.44.130(1))

In addition, the college is required to advise the campus community where law enforcement agency information provided by a state under the Megan Nicole Kanka and Alexandra Nicole Zapp Community Notification Program (34 U.S.C. 20923) concerning registered sex offenders may be obtained, such as a local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction for the campus or a computer network address (34 CFR 668.46(b)(12)).

Immunity
A College official or employee is immune from civil liability for damages for a release of relevant and necessary information unless it is shown that the College official or employee acted with gross negligence or in bad faith. (RCW 4.24.550)

Procedure
Upon receiving written notification from the County Sheriff’s Office, or any other police agency, about the likely presence of a sexual offender on or near any College-controlled facility, activity or event, the College may take such steps as are necessary and appropriate under applicable state law to inform members of the College community of the presence of such persons. Persons likely to be present include applicants for admission, attending students, employees of the College or persons otherwise known or suspected to frequent the College or College-controlled facilities, activities or events.

Annually, The Director of Campus Safety shall authorize an email to be sent to the campus community about where to access information about registered sex offenders. This email will provide a link to the Campus Safety webpage directing the user to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, which is published to provide ready access to the public to search for sex offenders. If there is any change in this link, the Director of Campus Safety will notify, in a timely manner, the campus community about the change.

The Director of Campus Safety shall be the designated official to receive notifications from the County Sheriff’s Office or other police agencies. Prior to notification, the Director of Campus Safety may, when deemed advisable, contact appropriate police and/or community corrections personnel to obtain information to guide notification actions. The Vice President of Student Affairs shall coordinate notification to the campus community with the Director of Campus Safety. Any person on campus receiving notification from a police agency shall provide a copy of such notification to the Director of Campus Safety. The Vice President of Student Affairs, or equivalent officer, shall make the appropriate notifications if the offender is enrolled or deemed likely to enroll in, or to attend, a course, program, or other activity or event that is controlled or sponsored by the College.

The office of the Vice President of Student Affairs will maintain the following records on all registered sex offenders covered under this policy:

• copies of all files
• photos and other correspondence provided by other agencies
• a record of all notifications made
• copies of all community advisory flyers or other public notices

In the case of a College employee, the Vice President for Human Resources, or equivalent officer, shall maintain a similar file and, with consultation of the President, shall coordinate notification.

The extent of the public disclosure of relevant and necessary information shall be rationally related to (a) the level of risk posed by the offender to the community, (b) the locations where the offender resides or is regularly found, and (c) the needs of the members of the College community for information to enhance their individual and collective safety. The extent and types of notifications may be adjusted on a case-by-case basis, but shall be generally guided by the offender risk factors as follows:

Level I - Low Risk

• Campus Safety
• President
• Vice President of Instruction
• Vice President of Human Resources
• Vice President of Student Affairs
• Executive Director of College Relations
• Executive Director of Information Technology
• Dean for Branch Campuses, WETRC & Continuing Education

Level II - Medium Risk

• All Level I notifications
• Faculty and staff in whose program and/or courses the student is enrolled
• Kent Campus
• Enumclaw Campus
• Work Study Office
• Counseling and Health Services
• Tutoring & Resource Center
• Math Learning Center
• Writing Center
• Early Childhood Education Program (to include campus Montessori)
• Student Life
• Athletics
• Child Care Center
• Student Housing
• Career & Advising Center
• Enrollment Services
• TRIO
• Library
• Workforce Education
• Peer mentoring programs
• Any College program with a significant population of students under the age of 18 (Running Start)
• Any other program or office with whom the student has or is likely to have contact

Level III - High Risk

• All Level I and II notifications
• All College employees via internal mail/e-mail
• College newspaper
• College bulletins and bulletin boards
• Any other means to get the information out to the College community

Additional Procedures for Level III Offenders

• Written notification of the offender’s intent to enroll at the College must be received at least three (3) months prior to actual enrollment.
• Offender must have at least six (6) consecutive months without any violations of his/her registration conditions leading up to enrolling at the College
• Level III offenders are restricted to attending classes at the main campus in Auburn or online classes if it doesn’t interfere with any restrictions by law enforcement.
• Notification to the campus community will occur approximately six (6) weeks before the start of the offender’s enrollment at Green River College.
• While on campus, offender will be monitored by campus safety staff and will be introduced to each class he/she attends as a Level III Sex Offender.

Especially for Level II and Level III offenders, the College will ordinarily notify the offender of the notifications it is making. For employees who have been assigned the Level II and Level III risk categories, the College reserves its rights not to employ the person and/or to assign or limit employment hours, job duties or work sites.

The Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) through the “Model Policy” established guidelines for risk-level classification and the dissemination of information about sex offenders.

1. Lowest Risk to Re-Offend (Level 1):
   Information is maintained by local law enforcement agency and is disseminated to other appropriate law enforcement agencies.
2. Moderate Risk to Re-Offend (Level 2):
   In addition to Level 1 dissemination, information is also released to any businesses or organizations who serve families and children. These include but are not limited to public schools, private schools, day care facilities and public service organizations. Also it is recommended that there are community notification meetings.
3. Highest Risk to Re-Offend (Level 3):
   Includes all notification dissemination for Level 1 and Level 2 offenders. In addition, the public may be notified through press releases to local news media outlets.

The End of Sentence Review Committee is made up of a variety of state and local agencies that together complete risk-level assessment of most sex offenders either convicted in Washington State or convicted in another state and move to Washington. The purpose of risk-level assessment is to provide the community with information about convicted sex offenders who pose a moderate or high risk to re-offend.

The information above was excerpted from the Snohomish County Online Information and Services website. 

Specific Authority
[OAG 103P; A.G. Order No 2563-2002] RIN 1105-AA81: Guidelines for the Campus
Sex Crimes Prevention Act Amendment to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act.
RCW 9A.44.130
The Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting, published 2011; pp. 141-148
20 U.S.C. §1232g(b)(7)

Law Implemented

History of Policy or Procedure
Draft: Janury 7, 2005, May 17, 2005
Adopted: January 6, 2006
Revised: February 21, 2013, August 25, 2016
Reviewed by:
Contact: George Frasier, Vice President for College Advancement Executive Director, ext. 3338
President’s Staff Sponsor: Dr. Deborah Casey, Vice President of Student Affairs, ext. 3328