Barnidge: Dugard case pinpoints need for better communication among law enforcement agencies

Just so folks know a commentary is coming on this article on Sunday afternoon. Why? Because I disagree with the journalist who generally is super on his facts, but this time I disagree. Stop back for my thoughts....

9-6-2009 California:

THE SORDID TALE of Jaycee Dugard's kidnapping, rape and imprisonment for 18 years is the story that launched a thousand newscasts. Less than two weeks after the news first broke, disbelief continues to mingle with outrage.

As one lurid aspect of the case piled atop another and the profile of suspect Phillip Garrido unfolded, you could feel the emotional temperature of the community rising to a full boil. And because public fervor and knee-jerk reaction often are catalysts for new legislation, it's a safe bet that some legislator already is contemplating a bill that addresses the horrors exposed in the case.

It was a similar case, the rape and murder of 7-year-old Megan Kanka in 1994, that precipitated Megan's Law, which gave the public access to information on registered sex offenders.

The rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford in 2005 led to the enactment of Jessica's Law, which in California requires newly registered sex offenders to wear GPS tracking devices and prohibits them from living within 2,000 feet of schools and parks.

The kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Polly Klaas by career felon Richard Allen Davis in 1993 provided the impetus for California's adoption of the Three Strikes Law.

So what comes next? Do we need Jaycee's Law?

"No," said U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello, as quickly as the question was posed. "I'm comfortable with the laws and sentencing we have in place. We don't need any knee-jerk legislation."

He doesn't have to look far for supporting views.

"I'm not a fan of more legislation in the criminal law area," said Professor Rory Little of UC Berkeley's Hastings College of the Law. "To me, this case looks like two things: a failure of investigation and failure of detection.

"A guy kidnapped a girl, and nobody caught him. And he hid her in his backyard for years, and nobody caught him. My guess is that a lot of people saw something odd was happening and didn't pursue government intervention. You can't legislate that."

New legislation often serves as a convenient salve for the sudden revelation of heinous crimes. If the old law has a loophole, write a new law to close it. And another after that, if needed. Politicians raise their hands and constituents applaud, but solutions seldom come that easily.

Suzanne Brown-McBride, executive director of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, explains that no law is perfect.

"When you look at the Dugard case, neither GPS tracking nor residency restrictions would have made any level of difference," she said. "Garrido was on GPS, and he didn't violate — he was at home where he theoretically was supposed to be. And he wasn't subject to residency laws. But even if he had been, his property was compliant with the requirements."

Some legislation actually results in as many negatives as positives.

GPS tracking and residency restrictions have not necessarily increased community safety, Brown-McBride said.

"For instance, the number of transient offenders — those who are registered in the system but homeless — has gone up over a hundredfold. And the information we've gotten from GPS has come at the cost of massive investment. ... to track the 6,000 or 7,000 people in California ... costs $65 million a year."

More important than new legislation, she said, is better communication and collaboration among law enforcement agencies. In other words, when a Contra Costa County sheriff's deputy was called to Garrido's house in 2006 to investigate a neighbor's complaint, he should have known beforehand that Garrido was a registered sex offender.

Another crying need, Brown-McBride said, is a means of categorizing sex offenders. Some are more dangerous, and they should be tracked more closely. ("The high-risk offenders have a high propensity for repeat offenses," she said.) Public awareness can be far more effective than legislation.

"The problem," said Little, "is people see cases like this and instead of addressing the nuances of why this wasn't detected earlier, they want to write a law that hammers the criminal and anybody who possibly could be put in this category."

That shouldn't be a concern this time. If Garrido is found guilty, you can bet he'll get the biggest hammer the justice system can wield. ..Source.. by Tom Barnidge, Contra Costa Times columnist