About 3,200 registered sex offenders live in Fort Worth, but the city has no ordinance restricting where they live.

Officials want to change that.

Fort Worth city staff recommend council members create an ordinance that bars certain sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of child safety zones, which Texas law defines as schools, playgrounds, public pools, youth centers and other such places.

The ordinance would apply to those offenders whose victims were under 17 years old, Trey Qualls, senior assistant city attorney, said at a Public Safety Committee meeting Oct. 14.

About 1 in every 315 Fort Worth residents is a registered sex offender — a slightly lower rate than the statewide average of 1 in every 293 residents, Qualls said.

“To those currently sitting in prison who may be ge

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