Sex Offenders - How Prevalent Are They?
Sex offender is such a dirty term in our society. When it is brought up there is a nearly unanimous feeling of uneasiness and disgust amongst the general public, and with good reason. We like to think of sex offenders as an issue that not many people have to deal with or think about daily, unfortunately, that is just not the case. The unfortunate truth is that sex offenders live among us in greater numbers than most of us would like to believe.
Since 2011 Bemrose Consulting has screened approximately 285 sex offenders. To be frank, this is a lot especially when considering how specific of a range of people that includes. For us at Bemrose to find someone who is a registered sex offender they first have to apply for a rental property, then they have to apply for one that we screen and then they also have to be registered because this number does not include anyone whose crime did not require them to register or anyone whose charges were dismissed. With all those qualifiers approximately 285 were still found while being screened.
This shocking number of registered sex offenders we find speaks to how important it is for all applicants to be screened, but how important it is for all applicants to be screened with the thoroughness we at Bemrose Consulting use in our criminal searches.
For most the issue of sex offenders is something that is not often discussed, but in the world of property management, it really should be because of the severity it can have on an organization or person’s reputation or view from others. For example, during this past college baseball season, the Oregon State Beavers had a situation with this very issue of sex offenders. The Beavers spent most of the season as the top-ranked team in the nation with a lot of that success due to the dominance of the pitching staff. Right before the College Baseball World Series was set to start, a story was released that the Beavers top pitcher was a registered sex offender in the state of Washington. The story blew up and to save the team and himself from the embarrassment and distraction of it continuing to be a story he removed himself from the team. Oregon State still did pretty well for themselves and made it pretty far without him, but maybe could have been NCAA champions if not for this story being released.
This is a very real example of how much the issue of sex offenders is such a dark cloud that it can derail the success of a team, in this example, or any type of organization. The issue has such an heir of negativity around it that people would rather ignore it until they no longer can, rather than deal with it head-on by making sure anyone and everyone has been properly vetted so that there never would have been a possibility of the problem occurring in the first place.
Yes, sex offenders are something that we all hope we do not have to encounter or deal with, but unfortunately, that cannot always be the case. They live amongst us whether we like it or not and the problems they bring with them can be all too real if not dealt with head-on. An in-depth screening process is a perfect way to make sure that the dirty term “sex offender” is never associated with your business or property.
DISCLAIMER: READ CAREFULLY: The information provided in this article is not considered legal advice and is given only for information purposes. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF YOUR LEGAL COUNSEL.