The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire provided a sex offender notice to students and faculty last week. The notice described recently released sex offender Bruce Edward Moores and gave information pertaining to his residence upon his prison release.

Moores was known to frequent campus, specifically the McPhee Center and Haas Fine Arts Center. He was known to videotape female sporting events and solicit college-aged females to model for photography. One of the conditions of Moore’s parole is that he is not allowed on university property.

The release gave a number for contacting the police if Moores was spotted on campus university. Given the proximity of Moores to the university, the Spectator Editorial Board discussed if campus police should be actively on the look for nearby sexual offenders.

One member said it’s demeaning to believe the police don’t have these offenders on their radar.

“They have a good idea of where (Moores) and others are,” the member said. “They see this information first, obviously this is a big concern to them and I see no reason why they wouldn’t consider this guy a real threat.”

A different member said the bigger issue is making sure students are actively looking out. The member realized Moores will be living blocks away from their house, which they found unfortunate.

“I don’t think it’d be a good use of time to patrol the street and wait for this guy to attack,” the member said. “Police know what they’re doing when it comes to this but I think it’s important for students to be aware of the dangers in their own neighborhood.”

One speaker related this topic to the Editorial Board’s drunk driving discussion from last week. The speaker questioned how many chances does someone get in this country until their behind bars for a legitimate amount of time.

“This person is sick and they continue to get opportunities to put people in danger,” the speaker said. “It’s unfair for the police that this is an issue because the chances of this guy messing up again are high, just like drunk drivers. Why do people like this continue to get chances to mess up?”

The Spectator Editorial Board voted 5-1 on whether campus police should be actively on the look for nearby sexual offenders.