Somerset’s community police officer, Const. Khoa Hoang, has taken on a new role as vice-president of a committee that helps registered sex offenders reintegrate into neighbourhoods around Ottawa.
Hoang took on his new post with the Circles of Support and Accountability steering committee at the start of the year.
The program helps high-risk sex offenders – individuals released from prison after serving their full sentence – integrate into the community.
Operating in Ottawa for over 16 years, CoSA is funded by the chaplaincy office of Correctional Service of Canada.
The organization has helped about 25 individuals since it started, according to the program’s website.
As the new vice-president of the committee, Hoang says he wanted to assume the new role because it was an opportunity to learn more about the issue and to work with a group of people stigmatized by society.
“It was a position that I would say traditionally most police officers are not comfortable in because it works with high-risk sex offenders in a positive way,” says Hoang.
He says the problem is the lack of support given to offenders once they leave prison, as they attempt to restart their lives. By taking an hour out of the day to talk to program participants and provide them with support, says Hoang, it can help prevent a crisis that could cause someone to re-offend.
“The reality is that as much as we may as a society hate the thought of sexual predators within our community, they’re there,” Hoang says. “So we can either do whatever we can to help each other in protecting our children and our most vulnerable or we can turn a blind eye and pretend it doesn’t exist and just watch it keep happening.”
The issue of re-integrating sex offenders is contentious and can easily cause tension in a community.
One such case in 2008 involved a sex offender who moved to Ottawa after leaving prison.
The former offender had initially wanted to move to Brockville, but was discouraged by its community who created a Facebook page called “SEX OFFENDER IN OUR COMMUNITY.” Another Facebook page surfaced which featured the offender’s photograph.
These types of community actions are not encouraged by Circles of Support and Accountability.
Hoang says he hopes to continue helping on the committee in every way he can, in part by educating the community.
“Khoa is very outgoing and he has lots of great ideas,” says Susan Love, the program’s co-ordinator. “So he’s kind of a natural in a leadership role.”
The program is volunteer based, with support largely from the Church of St. John the Evangelist, an Anglican parish on Somerset Street, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.
Part of a nationwide initiative, the Ottawa chapter helps former offenders who voluntarily seek assistance, says Love.
As for its effectiveness, the program is key to helping newly released offenders adjust to a faster pace of life, says Centretown-based criminal lawyer Lawrence Greenspon.
“When somebody who has been through a prison system comes out, their chance of getting into trouble again is a direct function of the family and community support that they get when they come out,” says Greenspon.
For Hoang, he says his work at Circles of Support and Accountability is worth all the challenges, because it increases community safety and helps former offenders.
“We’re not trying to throw the hammer at them,” says Hoang. “We’re actually trying to help them.”