Simi Valley links to Megan's Law site to safeguard kids from sex offenders on Halloween

Simi Valley on Thursday unveiled a new strategy to safeguard trick-or-treating children on Halloween from the city's registered sex offenders. It used its Nixle.com account to link to the state's Megan's Law website, which lists the names, photos and addresses of 97 of the city's 165 registered sex offenders.

Mayor Bob Huber said the city's new strategy is "a very proactive way to approach the protection of our children. We'll be sending the link to the Megan's Law site for our residents to locate and therefore avoid going to homes of registered sex offenders."

But not all registered sex offenders are listed on the site. Simi Valley police say 68 of the city's 165 registered sex offenders aren't. Certain sex crimes, such as indecent exposure, are excluded from the site. But police say they monitor all the city's registered sex offenders, whether they're listed on the site or not.

The new strategy comes three days after the City Council repealed the city's 2012 Halloween sex offender ordinance, which had been championed by Huber, to settle the latest federal lawsuit to challenge the law's constitutionality. The suit was dismissed late Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson in Los Angeles.

Among other requirements, the ordinance banned registered sex offenders listed on the Megan's Law site from opening their doors to trick-or-treating children on Halloween.

Read more:

• Simi council repeals Halloween sex offender ordinance
• Simi council may rescind Halloween sex offender ordinance

Simi Valley Police Chief Dave Livingstone, who was named with the city as a defendant in the lawsuit, said his department never enforced the ordinance.

Even so, attorney Janice Bellucci, who brought the Sept. 18 lawsuit on behalf of a Simi Valley registered sex offender and his mother, brother and daughter, said the ordinance was unnecessary to begin with. There are no reports that a trick-or-treating child has ever been sexually assaulted in California by a registered sex offender, she said. 

"The ordinance from the very start was a solution without a problem," Bellucci, the executive director of the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, said Tuesday, the day after the repeal, which took effect immediately.

On Thursday, she said she had no problem with the city's new strategy of using Nixle to link to the Megan's Law site.

"We believe it is appropriate for parents to view the Megan's Law website and to make their own decisions regarding whether to take their children to the homes of registrants for trick-or-treating," Bellucci said.

The site makes public the names, photos and addresses of registered sex offenders throughout California, including 97 in Simi Valley.

Nixle offers notification services for local police departments, county emergency management offices and municipal governments within the U.S.

Huber said the city's Nixle account has several thousand followers.

"I encourage all residents to sign up for Nixle to receive important, ongoing communications from the city," he said Thursday.

The Simi Valley Police Department linked to the Megan's Law site via Nixle at 1:54 p.m. Thursday.

"Fortunately, since the origination of the Halloween ordinance, we have acquired Nixle," Huber said. 

"While we are taking a proactive stance, there is no substitution for parents to stay close to monitor their minor children for the Halloween holiday," he emphasized. 

In a news release Thursday, the city offered other Halloween safety tips, including advising older children who are trick-or-treating without their parents to travel in groups and to stay in well-lit areas.

"Children of all ages are reminded to never enter the home of someone they do not know," the release said. "Should you see any suspicious or illegal behavior, please call 911 and report it immediately to the Simi Valley Police Department."

For more Halloween safety tips, residents can call the Simi police crime prevention specialist, Jean-Marie Maroshek, at 583-6276, the release said.

Huber said he's "frustrated by the backlash against the city and the City Council" over the now-rescinded ordinance.

"I'm the one who originated the Halloween ordinance in the first place to protect our children," he said. "Most cities didn't even have such an ordinance."

But "the courts continue to strike down the ordinance in multiple cities, ruling it unconstitutional," said Huber, an attorney.

In a 2012 federal lawsuit brought by Bellucci challenging the ordinance's constitutionality, Anderson temporarily blocked one of the law's requirement that the registered sex offenders must post a sign on their front door on Halloween stating, "No candy or treats at this residence." The judge found that the suit had made a strong case that the sign requirement, "a form of compelled speech," violated the First Amendment's free speech guarantees.

In a 2013 settlement of the suit, the city agreed not to enforce the sign requirement. The civil action was filed on behalf of five registered sex offenders, three of their spouses and two of their children, all Simi Valley residents. Like the plaintiffs in the Sept. 18 lawsuit, they were all identified as John Does.

In its news release, the city said Halloween can be celebrated in ways other than trick-or-treating, such as by attending the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District's annual Halloween carnival from 5:30-8 p.m. Oct. 31 at Rancho Santa Susana Community Center, 5005-C Los Angeles Ave. A second Halloween Carnival will be put on by the district at the same time at the Oak Park Community Center, 1000 N. Kanan Road.

Residents are also encouraged to seek out other community Halloween events, the city said. They include "trunk or treats," often held at churches or schools, in which children go from car trunk to car trunk in parking lots and receive candy.