DERRY — Registered sex offenders may be facing residency restrictions if an ordinance proposed by Town Councilor Kevin Coyle is passed.
Coyle, who is also a prosecutor for the Londonderry Police Department, has been drafting the ordinance for the last couple of weeks and presented it to the council at its March 18 meeting. The ordinance is scheduled for a public hearing next month.
The ordinance would prohibit registered sex offenders and anyone who has been convicted of a crime against children from living within 2,000 feet of any schools or day care centers. It would also prohibit offenders from living within a 500-foot radius of a playground, park or facility that provide programs and services to children, including the Boys and Girls Club of Derry and the Children's Metamorphosis Museum.
There are currently 24 sex offenders living in Derry who are on the state's public list. There are also another 13 who are registered with the state, however, their personal information is not available to the public.
"This isn't a be all and end all; parents still need to be concerned," Coyle said after the March 18 council meeting.
The ordinance does not apply to any residents who have established their residency prior to the ordinance passing the Town Council. It also wouldn't apply to residents who have a school, day care center or children's facility that moves to within 2,000 feet of an offender's home.
Any person who violates the ordinance would be fined a minimum of $500 the first time and then $1,000 for each subsequent offense.
Residents became alarmed in January when a registered sex offender from Connecticut moved to an apartment in Derry that was near a private school, a public library and a public park. Many were alarmed to learn that the state of New Hampshire doesn't regulate where offenders can live.
Douglas A. Simmons was sentenced to 36 years in prison and five years of probation for kidnapping 6-year-old Michele Spencer, strangling her to death, and then sexually assaulting her body before leaving it in a sewer drain in July 1981 in Norwich, Conn.
He moved to Derry and registered with local police the day after his five-year probation period was over.
But after his arrival in Derry caused an uproar among residents, Simmons moved back to Connecticut where he has since been incarcerated for violating that state's sex offender registration laws by neglecting to tell authorities he was moving to New Hampshire.
A public hearing for the proposed ordinance is scheduled for the April 15 Town Council meeting.
