NM- Bill gives officers contact info of sex offenders

It never ceases to amaze me how ignorant lawmakers and law enforcement is, their heads are in the sand, they have no idea how the Internet works and are totally oblivious of the costs of today's throwaway cell phones, and have ignored land lines. Every Internet service provider has ways to eliminate spam, and any e-mail coming in can be tagged spam, e-mail addresses are a dime a dozen and can be throwaway as well, IP addresses can be dynamic and most of the major service providers use that anyway. Lawmakers and law enforcement folks seem to get a mental block when they get elected or hired, I guess it could be that reasoning is deadened by the perceived power of their position. This article displays all of these elements.

1-31-2009 New Mexico:

Keeping track of convicted sex offenders could get easier for law enforcement with the passage of a new bill.

Undersheriff Sal Bargaiola said having sex offenders' phone numbers, cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses would help big time--and they might just get the information.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department and Republican State Representative Bill Rehm teamed up to introduce legislation that they hope will give detectives another tool to be able to track down and communicate with sex offenders when they move into Bernalillo County.

"We know that sex offenders go to MySpace, we know they go to Facebook, this way we'll be able to see their e-mail addresses,' Rep. Rehm said.

"What I think this bill will do is, you can switch addresses three and four times a year, you're not going to switch cell phone numbers, and you're not going to switch e-mail addresses," he said.

Under the proposed bill, the phone numbers of sex offenders would not be posted on the state's online registry. That information would be given only to law enforcement.

The sheriff's department said sex offenders who obey their registration requirements might actually prefer a checkup over the phone. Instead of a visit from armed deputies.

"I think it's better for the courts, it's better for them and it's better for us that we have more information not less," Rep. Rehm said.

Several sex offenders have called Rep. Rehm opposing the bill. But so far this session, it has received full support from lawmakers. ..News Source.. by KOB.com