University, police work together to track sex offenders
No registered offender attending, works for TCU
By Bill Morrison
Staff Reporter

TCU Police say they have a program in cooperation with the Fort Worth Police Department that already complies with a new law requiring universities to track registered sex offenders living or working on campuses.

The law, which went into effect in late October, is called the Campus Sex Crimes Prevention Act. It requires sex offenders, when they register with the state, to indicate whether they are enrolled in, employed by or volunteering on a college campus.

By Oct. 1, 2003, states will have to share that information with the colleges affected and then must inform students, faculty and administrators where the information can be found.

J.C. Williams, assistant chief of TCU Police, said Fort Worth police already informs them if there is a registered sex offender at the university, and that he has not been notified of anyone who works for or attends TCU and is a registered sex offender. In addition to the information they receive from the police department, Williams said the university does criminal background check on all its employees.

“We don’t have anyone here that is a registered sex offender,” Williams said.
Williams said the TCU Police have been more advanced than most universities when it comes to protecting the student body.

“We have been progressive in how we have worked with the Fort Worth police when students are in danger,” Williams said. “If we believe students are in danger we will take the appropriate steps to ensure their safety.”

Williams said sex offenders are already required to register with the state and that his office is informed by the police department when there are offenders in the area. He said students can already get this information by going to (www.cap.tcu.edu/criminal.htm), clicking on the Public Safety Sex Offender Database Search link and entering the zip code 76129.

Andrea Reed, a senior social work and international business major, said students have a right to know since the information is public knowledge.

“As far as it applies to university policy, I think it is a good idea to tell students where to go if they have a concern about sex offenders, but I’m not sure it needs to be posted on the bulletin board,” Reed said.

Williams said they have no official policy on how the information would be disseminated. He said the law only requires colleges to notify the public and make the information available to them. He said when there has been a threat to students in the past, the TCU Police have used various methods to inform students, including mass e-mails and advertisements in the Skiff.

“We will put a policy in place that will make sure we are in compliance,” Williams said. “We just want to try and give out any links that will help students.”

Dean of Admissions Ray Brown said the university has no definite policy about admitting convicted sex offenders. He said in his more than two years as dean, he has only had one student check “yes” for being convicted of a felony and that it was for property damage, not assault.

“The number of applicants with a felony is unbelievably infrequent,” Brown said. “The practice is, if we see that an applicant checked yes, we will talk it over with the dean of Campus Life (Susan Batchelor) and make a case-by-case decision.”

Bill Morrison
w.c.morrison@tcu.edu