The only purpose for the Adam Walsh Act is, it is a stimulus for law enforcement, AWA becomes a barganing tool at the contract table. The public will pay dearly to support this law that protects no child nor any adult; AWA is a replacement for Saturday night at the movies. The people mentioned in this article speak without facing reality, it is true AWA is an unfunded mandate, but through Obama's other stimulus packages AWA has been funded ten or more times over in the past year, such negates any claim of AWA being an unfunded mandate. Ohio implmented AWA and now has clogged their court system with 26,000 sex offenders suing the state; Missouri is next.12-9-2009 Missouri:
Sex offender laws are gaining strength in Missouri and across the nation.
But how they're enforced is creating a challenge for many law enforcement agencies. Only one out of 50 states is up to compliance with federal regulations when it comes to tracking criminals.
It's being called an unfunded mandate. Nevertheless, one that keeps our communities safer.
Sheriff's and police departments have more power to crack down on sex offenders. But they're having a hard time doing it.
The workload's enough to make your vision blurry. For every flag on the map, Greene County has a sex offender to keep up with.
"As of Mid-December we have 430 names on the list," says Captain Randy Gibson with the Greene County Sheriff's Office.
Changes in federal and state sex offender laws have authorities trying to stay on top of a growing case load.
"It's a laborious process that won't be done any time soon," says Gibson.
In the spring, law officers got word from the Missouri Supreme Court that offenders from 1979 to present needed to register. 2010 brings new challenges. A federal sex-offender law takes effect in July. It would create a national registry, making it tough for people to move to avoid the law, and increasing punishment for those who do.
"The challenge is to take the state statute and match to the federal statute and find where in the ranking those offenders go," says Gibson.
The federal law includes about two decades more records than Missouri's law. It's also a three tiered system, classifying the severity of the offense and the time span an offender needs to comply with registering.
In the long run, that would mean some names would expire from the list, creating less work for officials. But on the front end, the unfunded mandate creates a lot of extra work, even when the registry is short.
"We have 70 in Webster County," says Sheriff Roye Cole of his county's offender list.
Keeping tabs on offenders is half the job description for two staff members. The Sheriff says the federal restrictions will be added to their list.
"It's not a matter of federal or state law. We will enforce it," says Cole.
For many departments that creates a stretch of personnel and finances, but it's still a priority.
"We'll keep working at this rock pile until we have some progress," says Gibson.
Some states plan to ignore the order from congress on this federal tracking law.
It could mean fines and loss of grant funding at a time when departments need all the money they can get. ..Source.. Kate Stacy
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