PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Rhode Island state law says residents must be notified if a Level 2 or Level 3 (moderate or high-risk) sex offender is living in their neighborhood.
The costs associated with that requirement were raised at an April 11 General Assembly hearing on a bill that would shift responsibility for the notifications from local police departments to the Department of Public Safety, which includes the state police.
During the hearing, Rep. Peter Palumbo, D-Cranston, and Joee Lindbeck, a special assistant attorney general, commented on the costs of the notifications.
Lindbeck said Providence had spent $50,000 a year just on notifying its school department about sex offenders.
Palumbo said such notifications cost the city of Cranston "somewhere between $5,000 and $6,000," per Level 3 offender.
PolitiFact Rhode Island examined both claims and ruled Palumbo's False and Lindbeck's Half True. Read the complete analysis of each claim here.