In part this"compliance check" is illegal. If they are doing what the article claims to registrants not under some form of supervision, then they are doing it illegally! i.e. checking computers hard drives and the like. In addition, U.S. Marshals have no jurisdiction doing home address checks of state convicted offenders, unless the state has already reported a state offender to be out of compliance, so allowing the Marshals to tag alone -for the major portion of the sweep- is a complete waste of taxpayer money.6-28-2011 West Virginia:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The West Virginia State Police is taking aim at registered sex offenders who have not kept their information up to date.
On Friday, State Police, along with the U.S. Marshals Service, began compliance sweeps of more than 30 registered offenders in Summers County. Police divided up the sweep by where the offenders were located in the county and went door to door to see if reported information was accurate.
They are planning to do these sweeps county by county and already swept Greenbrier County in April, said M.K. Summers of the State Police Crimes Against Children Unit.
The State Police conduct compliance sweeps annually, but these are some of the first sweeps to involve multiple State Police divisions and the Marshals Service, he said.
According to the state Sex Offender Registry Act, anyone convicted of a sex crime or an attempted sex crime is required to register with the police detachment in his or her county of residence. The offender must register their full name and aliases, their home address, their vehicles or motor home, their Internet accounts and screen names and places of employment, among other information.
If the offender changes their address or any other stored information, he or she must report it to the police within 10 days. Any offender violating this law can face felony charges, and if convicted, can be imprisoned for up to five years.
"We do this to make sure they are registered properly. We don't want some of the problems they had in other areas," Summers said
He referenced the story of Jaycee Lee Dugard, a 31-year-old California woman who was abducted when she was 11 by a couple who made her sleep in a tent in their backyard for more than 18 years.
One of Dugard's abductors was a registered sex offender. If California compliance officers were doing their job properly, they would have noticed that a child was living on the premises, Summers said.
"He had been on probation and parole and they still missed that tent in the backyard," he said. "We are trying to avoid stuff like that here."
When a countywide sweep is conducted, all of the sex offenders are grouped on a map by their geographical location. The groups are then assigned to a trooper who leads a team, along with a U.S. Marshal, to work the cases.
Troopers check the offender's premises to monitor who is living there and they also check vehicles to see who they are registered to. They also make sure Internet access is documented because some offenders register their home Internet, but neglect to register the Internet on their cell phones, he said.
Those offenders charged with child pornography or other computer-related crimes are put into a separate group and investigated by officers with computer forensic knowledge. The computers are checked for history and deleted files, he said.
Friday's sweep netted one arrest. It was lad by the State Police, the U.S. Marshals, the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force and about 10 officers from the State Police Crimes Against Children Unit, the State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the State Police Hinton Detachment, the state Parole Office and the Summers County Sheriff's Department.
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Summers said he researched and found that Crawford had previous charges for failure to comply and he will bring a second count against Crawford.
If convicted, Crawford can be imprisoned for up to 25 years. ..Source.. by Travis Crum
2 comments:
It seems to be political grand standing at its very best.But what do they care if other crimes go unchecked as long as Virgina is safe from " sex offenders ".One day all this will slap LEA right in there faces when they have a free for all with murders,theft,drugs and the such.Virgina's LEA dont have to acount for how much money they waste but trust me one day they will have to acount for there comins and goins to the tax payers in one form or another.Nothing in this life last forever and that includes witch hunts.They do change shapes.
Wow! West Virginia allows 10 days to update changes.Most states give only 3 days.Compliance violations throughout the country are a result of apathy rather than some devious plot to circumvent the law.So many on the registries have just given up on life and allowed themselves to be emasculated by the system. The public and lawmakers say "thier VICTIMS were shown no mercy why should they expect any"!
So;round and round and round we go .....where it stops nobody knows!!!!
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