For the first time since its adoption late last year, Revere's new residency restriction ordinance for Level 3 sex offenders will be put to the test on Tuesday .

Ward 4 City Councilor George Rotondo , who drafted the council-approved ordinance, asked Revere police last month to file a criminal complaint against a Level 3 sex offender working in the city and living near the newly constructed Whelan School . The sex offender, who was convicted in Seattle in 1992 for rape and abuse of a child, is the first person charged with violating the ordinance. Level 3 sex offender classifications are given to those deemed most likely to reoffend.

A hearing in Chelsea District Court is expected to determine whether the complaint should have been filed against the sex offender. .

Revere is one of several communities in the state, including Chelsea, that have recently adopted measures banning Level 3 sex offenders from living in areas where children and the elderly gather. Critics of these buffer zone ordinances argue that they may give parents a false sense of security, and that they further punish those who've already served time for their crimes.

The Revere City Council unanimously approved Rotondo's ordinance last year, stating that no registered Level 3 sex offender shall reside within 1,000 feet of a public or private school, nursery school, day care center, kindergarten, playground, or school bus stop within the city. But when the city engineer recently outlined a map of the residency restrictions, he told Rotondo that they covered the entire city, possibly rendering the ordinance unconstitutional.

On July 31 , the City Council approved an emergency ordinance amendment by Rotondo, limiting the residency restrictions to within 1,000 feet of public and private schools only, with a $300 fine per day for the offense.

Even with a school-only residency ban, Rotondo said it still covers about 55 percent of the city's land mass. Rotondo, who has two daughters, said he drafted the ordinance after a Woburn woman and her 12-year-old daughter were killed, allegedly by a convicted Level 3 sex offender, in 2004.

``If you're a sex offender, you can't live where kids are educated. If you're a recovering alcoholic, you don't move near a bar or a nightclub," he said. ``Every step program out there tells you to move away from that environment," which could be a ``trigger" for drinking.

John Reinstein , legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said there is a question of whether these types of residence restrictions really protect children, given that studies indicate that sex offenders most often commit crimes away from where they live. If sex offenders who are trying to rehabilitate while living with their family are uprooted, Reinstein argued that it could take them away from a supportive environment and increase the chances that they will re-offend.

Residence restrictions can also, ``undermine the sex offender registry," Reinstein said, because sex offenders will determine that, ``the more they register, the more they invite these kinds of sanctions. You're undermining the regime of treatment and regulation that's currently in place."

Local regulations ``are essentially Not In My Backyard," he said. ``Ultimately, this tends to cross the line between regulation, which is how the state sex offender registry has been upheld, and punishment. These things proceed from the general welfare of children, but my concern is that everybody wants to do something but no one has asked whether this is the right thing to do. It's a quick fix, but I think it's the wrong fix."

Revere City Solicitor Paul Capizzi said he or his assistant plan to attend the district court private hearing Tuesday, as well as holding a meeting later that day with the assistant solicitor to see how similar nationwide court cases have fared.

Whether this residency zone ban will restrict the number of Level 3 sex offenders living in the city remains to be seen, said Police Chief Terence Reardon .

``Like most criminals, if [Level 3 sex offenders] believe they are being scrutinized more closely where they live, . . . a lot of them feel that's enough to make them move out of the community," Reardon said. ``There isn't a more heinous crime in regards to sex pedophile crimes, [but] the law says they've already paid their dues. As a very wise policeman once told me, `You cannot break the law to enforce the law.' So we're looking for guidance from the court."

Lowell Police Superintendent Edward F. Davis , president of the Massachusetts Major City Chiefs Association, said that while no one wants a sex offender living near their children, communities have to make sure their ordinances are not violating state discrimination regulations.

``The media is full of examples of predatory behavior occurring. Every time there's something on TV, legislators say, `We have to do something.' [But] we have to deal with the practicality of it," Davis said. ``A buffer zone around a location shouldn't give people a false sense of security, and you have to be aware that there are people in the community that have these proclivities, and you have to be careful with your children. Just like designated drug-free zones don't stop drugs from being sold in school zones."

Councilor at Large Daniel Rizzo , chairman of the council's Zoning Subcommittee , said Rotondo is being proactive.

``We'll always support limiting Level 3 sex offenders living in those areas. Whether or not it's constitutional or not is up to a judge to decide," Rizzo said. ``The bottom line is this, not every sex offender commits a crime just within 1,000 feet of where they live. We can't put a fence around the city of Revere and say, `All Level 3 sex offenders stay out."'

Putting a measure in the books, Rotondo said, will not stop predators, but it creates alertness.

``Be vigilant, be concerned, be active. This isn't the end-all," Rotondo said. ``This is just one step in the right direction in awareness."

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com.