A community notification meeting was held last week to inform the public that a convicted rapist is returning to town after serving an 11-year prison term. He will wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. A broker has a listing call at the house next door to where this person will be living. Exactly who in the community will be notified? What are the broker’s disclosure duties?

Community notification process

Local law enforcement agencies have the authority to provide information about certain sex offenders to the community if, in their opinion, releasing the information would enhance the protection of the public.

Special bulletin notification

The process begins with the Department of Corrections (DOC), which issues a Special Bulletin Notification (SBN) when certain sex offenders are released from prison or a mental health institution. The SBN is issued to local law enforcement and includes the offender’s physical description, including a photo, the individual’s offenses, offense profile and offense pattern behaviors, the release plan, and the name and telephone number of the supervising agent. A SBN must be issued when the released offender committed crimes involving the victimization of children or people considered “vulnerable,” and when the offender has been convicted of a sex offense more than one time. The DOC has discretion to issue a SBN in other cases. The law does not require a SBN upon the release of all sex offenders.

Community notification

Upon receipt of a SBN, local law enforcement determines, on a case-by-case basis, what level of community notification should be given. Law enforcement consults with a team of sex offender specialists, probation/parole agents, and victim/witness coordinators when making this determination. The team considers the risk to the community, victims’ needs, community needs and the offender’s rehabilitative needs.
There are three levels of community notification.

• Level 1 notification is limited to law enforcement.
• Level 2 notification is targeted to specific individuals, facilities and groups based on the particular facts in the case. A Level 2 notification may be made to schools, neighbors, community groups, day care centers, parks, recreation areas,
  libraries, etc.
• Level 3 is community-wide notification and may occur through media releases, door-to-door notification or community meetings.

Electronic monitoring program

An offender on electronic monitoring wears an electronic ankle bracelet that transmits a signal to a receiver attached to the phone in his or her home. If the offender moves “out of range,” an electronic signal is transmitted to the monitoring center and staff will attempt to reach the offender by phone. If there is no answer, an arrest warrant is automatically issued. However, offenders can be authorized to leave their home for employment, treatment, school, and other approved activities during which they are not monitored electronically.

Broker’s disclosure duties

When a party asks a real estate licensee about sex offenders or the sex offender registry, the licensee may respond with the information known by the agents in the company about these issues or provide the sex offender disclosure language to the party. If the sex offender disclosure language is provided in a timely manner, the broker has immunity from liability with regard to sex offender disclosure. The Sex Offender Registry telephone number is 877-234-0085 and the website is offender.doc.state.wi.us/public.