Where one resides and where one sleeps are not synonymous. If the law makes them synonymous, then registrants could be arrested for sleeping anywhere one falls asleep, that is not on the registry. In Florida especially, one cannot rely on law enforcement for a proper construction, LE will construe law as they need it to fit what they want to do.1-13-2011 Florida:
Further, if the law is changed for homeless persons, then there is a equal application of the law issue as to registrants who are not homeless. In that, they too must register every place they may fall asleep. Is the registry ready to handle such an onslaught of information.
They've been exiled to sleep under bridges and on benches. They've been banned from hanging out in places where children gather. Now Broward sheriff's officials say county sex offenders are lying about being homeless.
House Bill 119, a state measure passed last year to prevent sex offenders from loitering near children, created an unintended loophole. It allowed the ex-cons to register as "transient" instead of listing a specific temporary or permanent address.
There are now 95 sex offenders in Broward registered as transient, says Deputy Michele Miller. That means they could live anywhere in a county of 1.8 million people. Deputies who are required to check on the offenders and make sure they are not living too close to a school are park don't know where to start looking.
"How am I going to find these people if I don't know where they're at?" says John Bukata, the sheriff's district chief for Oakland Park.
Bukata says his team has found that some people who have a home list themselves as transient, just to avoid the cops. "People are learning there's a loophole with this," he says.
Sheriff Al Lamberti has asked local legislators to change the law, requiring offenders who are homeless to list a specific location where they sleep -- even if it's under a tree in Stranahan Park -- and then update that address every 30 days.
At a public hearing for the Broward legislative delegation last week, Rep. Hazelle Rogers said she will sponsor a bill to close the loophole, and colleagues such as Rep. Marty Kiar and Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff were eager to lend their support.
Deputy Miller admits this is not a perfect solution. It doesn't address the larger problem of sex offenders becoming homeless because they can't find a place to rent an apartment without being too close to children. And it certainly won't prevent former criminals from lying about where they sleep.
Still, Miller is hopeful that if offenders are required to list some address, the number of true transients will drop. "We need to know where they are," she says. "We're just trying to protect the community." ..Source.. Lisa Rab,
3 comments:
Quote: "We're just trying to protect the community."
Truth: Knowing where a person sleeps does not "protect ANYONE"
Does anybody else see this besides a handful of us??
"Deputies who are required to check on the offenders and make sure they are not living too close to a school OR PARK don't know where to start looking."
"Sheriff Al Lamberti has asked local legislators to change the law, requiring offenders who are homeless to list a specific location where they sleep -- even if it's under a tree IN STRANAHAN PARK -- and then update that address every 30 days."
Sorry, Sheriff Lamberti, but I thought it was against the law for RSOs to reside NEAR A PARK. Why would you even suggest that you want to know where a homeless RSO is sleeping/residing, "even if it's under a tree IN STRANAHAN PARK?" I sware these people don't think before they speak. None of this has anything to do with protection. It's all about going through the motions and collecting a paycheck at the end of the week.
The reason Florida (particularly Broward and Dade counties) is so overly-vigiliant and digilant over these SECURITY THEATER laws is because it's in close vicinity to where Adam Walsh was abducted.
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