Sex Offender Residency Law About to Change in Norwood

Cincinnati recently changed their sex offender residency law. Currently, convicted sex offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of schools. The new Cincinnati law incorporates any areas where children may gather, including playgrounds and day care and community centers. The City of Norwood has been working on its own change for over a year, and according to Councilperson Mike Gabbard, the proposed ordinance should be up for a vote within the next 30 days. Mike stated, “We wanted to make sure that the law protects our community but not be so restrictive that we end up in litigation”. The Norwood ordinance will look a lot like the Cincinnati ordinance but will not have a grandfather clause which allows current sexual predators who live by a park to be exempted from the law.