New rules approved by the Fort Worth council bar sex offenders from living in most parts of the city.
Amanda McCoy
amccoy@star-telegram.com
The Fort Worth City Council unanimously approved new rules at its Feb. 24 meeting restricting where registered sex offenders can live.
The rules bar offenders convicted of sex crimes against children from living within 2,000 linear feet from areas where children regularly gather.
The new rules prevent registered sex offenders from living in 75% of the city’s territory, according to a Nov. 5 Public Safety Committee presentation.
“This is about protecting our kids,” said City Council Member Charlie Lauersdorf, the main advocate behind the new legislation.
Lauersdorf acknowledged arguments about low recidivism rates among sex offenders made by advocates during the Feb. 10 council meeting.
“Until I hear that there’s zero chance of recidivism or zero chance of sex offenses caused by strangers, then I think this ordinance is going to protect children,” Lauersdorf said.
What do the rules do?
The rules create so-called “child safety zones,” which are those areas 2,000 linear feet from where children regularly gather.
According to the city ordinance, that includes:
Schools (including charters)Day-care or child-care facilities Parks Playgrounds Public pools Youth centerCommunity centers Public libraries A map of areas in Fort Worth where registered sex offenders are barred from living under the city’s new ordinance. Courtesy of the Fort Worth Police Department
There are some exceptions put in to help the rules survive a possible legal challenge.
The rules won’t apply to offenders in emergency shelters or offenders who are minors or were minors when they committed their crimes.
The new rules also grandfather in offenders who are already living within the 2,000-foot zones around areas where children regularly gather.
If an offender wants to move from where they’re currently living, then the new rules would apply, deputy city attorney Laetitia Coleman Brown told the council Tuesday.
Why the change?
Prior to Tuesday’s vote, Fort Worth had no rules limiting where registered sex offenders could live.
Some were subject to court orders; however, the vast majority of offenders who committed crimes against children had no limits on their residency.
Many cities surrounding Fort Worth have restrictions on where registered sex offenders can live. This raised the possibility that offenders from surrounding areas could concentrate in Fort Worth, assistant city attorney Trey Qualls said while speaking at the Nov. 5 Public Safety Committee meeting.
Most cities bordering Fort Worth set a 1,000-foot restriction on where registered offenders can live. Saginaw and Haltom City have a 1,500-foot limit, while Forest Hill’s limit matches Fort Worth’s at 2,000 feet.
Lauersdorf’s push for the new rules started in early 2024 after parents at Basswood Elementary raised concerns that a proposed motel project near the school would attract sex offenders.
Digging into the issues, Lauersdorf said in a text message to the Star-Telegram that he discovered an offender living within a few hundred feet of a playground, which spurred him to look at changes to Fort Worth’s rules.
Advocates who work with sex offenders argued during the Feb. 10 council meeting that residency restrictions don’t work, and do more to push offenders to the fringes of society.
“There’s a family behind every registered person,” said Mack McCurry, an advocate with the nonprofit Texas Voices.
If an offender needs to move, it affects their family as well, he said.
Lauersdorf appeared to acknowledge McCurry’s argument at the Feb. 24 meeting; however, he countered by saying the safety of victims needs to be paramount.
“If it protects even one child over the next 30 to 40 years, to me it’s completely worth it,” he said.
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Harrison Mantas has covered Fort Worth city government, agencies and people since September 2021. He likes to live tweet city hall meetings, and help his fellow Fort Worthians figure out what’s going on.