Counter Pedophilia Investigate Unit

Caroline Gammel, WA Today, Australia.

Is there is no end to the despair suffered by Gerry and Kate McCann? Fifteen months after their three-year-old daughter Madeleine disappeared from their holiday apartment at the Ocean Club resort in the Portuguese village of Praia da Luz, she is yet to be found. So often their hopes have been raised only to be cruelly dashed. Their daughter has been “seen” at a petrol station in Morocco, in the Maltese capital, Valetta, at a restaurant in the Belgian town of Tongeren, and in Cartagena in the south of Spain. But despite a lengthy international police inquiry and global publicity, no clues to her possible whereabouts have been uncovered.

Now, newly released secret Portuguese police files have provided information that can only deepen their anguish and increase their frustration at what appears to be a series of missed opportunities and a catalogue of failings in the hunt for their missing daughter. (more…)

by Kathy Baratta and Mark Rosman Staff Writers – News Transcript

Laws that were passed locally that restrict where convicted sex offenders may live may soon be coming off the books.

In a case involving two southern New Jersey towns that attempted to restrict where convicted sex offenders may live, the Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court recently struck down a municipality’s right to enact those type of regulations. The case involved the municipalities of Galloway Township and Cherry Hill.

The challenge to the municipal laws was brought by individuals who were impacted by the restrictions.The judges rejected those towns’ laws that prohibited convicted sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of any school, park, playground or day care center.

The three-judge panel found that New Jersey’s Megan’s Law was “pervasive and comprehensive” and should be the only law that dictates sex offender registration, notification, reintegration and rehabilitation. The Manalapan Township Committee is scheduled to open a discussion at its next meeting about whether Manalapan needs to rescind an ordinance adopted in 2005 that restricts where convicted sex offenders may live in the community and the amount of time they may “loiter” in one place. (more…)