VANCOUVER, Wash. (KATU) — There’s a brand new push to ban sex offenders from making use of to and coaching youth sports in Washington state. This comes after a sex offender was allowed to coach a youth football team in Clark County.
The former coach is listed on the Washington Sex Offender Public Registry’s record as a degree three sex offender, the best danger within the state.
“It was concerning to me,” state Rep. Stephanie McClintock stated throughout an interview with KATU. “I am a former soccer coach of both of my sons’ soccer team. I also a referee of soccer.”
McClintock and Rep. John Ley have each stated they’re going to help a bill to strengthen the state’s legal guidelines.
“I’ve been involved in Little League for my sons for the entire — from T-ball up until seniors,” McClintock stated. “And that was never brought up. So I thought, wow, this is a red flag. Just in this day and age, we need to keep our kids safe.”
Ley echoed a few of those self same feedback, telling KATU his staff is already engaged on the backend to draft a proposal.
“It’s totally appropriate to be curious about where your children are involved, whether it’s sports or other activities, whether it’s with the school or non-school activities, by all means get involved,” Ley stated.
Right now, within the state of Washington there aren’t any legal guidelines that will each ban sex offenders from coaching youth sports and ban sex offenders from making use of to coach youth sports.
“Once they finish and completed their probationary period, they are just like anybody else,” Detective DuWayne Layton, with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, stated. “They can go wherever they want to go. They can live wherever they want to live. They can apply for whatever job they want to apply for.”
When requested if he would help a legislation like this one, Layton stated this: “Absolutely, I would. Absolutely. It is one way to help protect our children, the most vulnerable people we have.”
Both McClintock and Ley inform KATU the soonest they’ll carry the proposal for doable laws is in December.