The Village of Massapequa Park recently passed a law enhancing the state and county's laws regarding where convicted violent sexual predators and pedophiles can live. In its desire to protect the public from these criminals who prey upon our children, local officials are trying to do whatever they can to monitor and keep them out of residential communities.

Theproblem is that the more restrictive these laws become, the more likely they are to be challenged and found unconstitutional. Massapequa Park officials recognized this and wrote their law carefully. The fact is, however, that this law and others like it skirt the issue very closely.

That's not to say that these officials are wrong, nor that they laws should not be enacted. If nothing else, they send a strong message to our state lawmakers that citizens of this great state want greater assurances that these criminals who have the highest rate of recidivisim of any category, should not be released into the community until there is every assurance they won't continue their deplorable behavior. Civil confinement legislation is one way to do that and we look to our state lawmakers to pass this legislation now.