11-7-2011 Texas:
A North Texas man celebrated his freedom on Friday Dale Duke served 14 years for a crime prosecutors no longer believe he committed.
It is no secret this had been an uphill battle for Dale Duke and his attorneys.
They have tried to reverse his guilty verdict once before in 1998. That attempt failed.
But, that changed. His road to freedom started with the recantation of his stepdaughter's allegations of sexual assault, corroborating evidence and then the Dallas County District Attorney's office asking for a finding of innocence.
A very short hearing was held at Frank Crowley Courthouse in Dallas Friday morning and Duke walked out of the courtroom, after 14 years in prison, a free man.
Duke immediately embraced his mother and father. He kissed them, hugged them and squeezed them for what seemed like minutes.
He told News 8 he was extremely happy and wanted his first meal to be the platter of shrimp cocktail his family had brought him.
He said is not bitter towards the person who launched the complaint that eventually put him behind bars. He said he forgave her and he did not regret refusing to accept guilt which could have afforded him parole and his freedom years ago.
"I'm gonna take it easy and relax a little bit,” said Duke. “Go back into society and see how things are going".
His father George in disbelief said, "Finally! Finally!"
Duke said he plans to spend his first day of freedom relaxing. Sitting on his couch and attending church to thank his friends and believers at Chapel in North Dallas. Members of the church visited him in prison once a month for 14 years because they believed in his innocence. ..Source.. by SHON GABLES and BRAD WATSON
Monday, November 7, 2011
Dallas man free, 14 years after false child sexual assault charges
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Texas Removes Sex Offender Designation From 176 Parolees
11-6-2011 Texas:
Texas has radically shifted its policy with respect to parolees and removed the sex offender designation from 176 people on parole since May 2011. The prisoners were of the group who had never been convicted of a sex crime but still had the sex offender label, and all of the penalties that accompany it such as a listing on the state's Sex Offender Registry, due to having what the Texas Department of Criminal Justice termed Special Condition X as a condition of parole. The change in state policy came as a result of court battles over the constitutionality of Special Condition X and state legislators questioning the Department of Criminal Justice's use of taxpayer funds.
In the latest of a decade-long series of court battles over Special Condition X, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held in a May 2011 opinion that the state had to provide a due process hearing to all prisoners released on parole before the state could impose Special Condition X. The court used the reasoning from a Fifth Circuit court of appeals case with similar facts as the one before it and a U.S. Supreme Court opinion regarding how much due process is owed a person when a "deprivation of the liberty interest leads to stigmatizing and physically-invasive consequences" -- as is the case with the sex offender label.
Texas failed to meet the due process standards outlined in those opinions because it did not afford parolees hearings before imposing Special Condition X and the court held that it needed to do so in the future.
Rather than offer due process hearings en masse, the Department of Criminal Justice changed its policy and recommended to the Board of Pardons and Paroles that it withdraw Special Condition X on the 176 prisoners. The Board of Pardons is considering 300 more applications of parolees seeking to have Special Condition X removed.
Legislators also questioned the wisdom of using taxpayer funds to keep those who were never convicted of sex crimes on the highest level of supervision while on parole. Sex offenders are obligated to register on the Sex Offender Registry, attend therapy sessions and check in frequently with parole officers. This intense supervision eats up resources that the state could allocate to those who have been convicted of sex crimes. Lawmakers were also concerned about the money the state spent defending Special Condition X in court over the years.
Additionally, the terms of parole are often so restrictive, governing where an offender cannot live, work, or travel and what he or she cannot posses, that many offenders end up back in prison for parole violations -- costing taxpayers even more money.
By reversing state policy about which parolees the state designates as sex offenders, Texas has taken a step towards ensuring due process for its citizens. Sex offense charges are serious matters, however, that the state punishes severely. If you are facing such charges you should consult with a criminal defense attorney who can assist you in getting the best outcome in your situation. ..Source.. by Joe D. Gonzales Law Office
Now Your Phone Talks Back and Humors You
ALEX JOHNSON, a freelance video producer in Indianapolis, has a self-esteem problem. Well, not really, but his new iPhone thinks he does.
“Why do I cry so much?” he asked it recently in jest.
“I don’t know,” it responded. “Frankly, I’ve wondered that myself.”
The funny (if slightly unsettling) reply was courtesy of Siri, the new virtual personal-assistant application for the recently released Apple iPhone 4S. Siri recognizes conversational speech and responds, helping with everything from scheduling a meeting to finding a therapist.
Siri also talks back. Owners of the new iPhone have been quick to ask it all kinds of odd questions, from the inane to the illicit. Looking for a place to hide a body? Siri provided Mr. Johnson with a list of metal foundries, dumps and swamps.
Yael Baker, a public relations and media consultant in New York, said that Siri allowed her to dictate text messages while driving and reminded her not to leave the house without keys or coffee. “I’m so in awe of Siri that I ask her to marry me every day, and her answers have varied from ‘That’s sweet but let’s just be friends,’ to ‘Thanks, Yael, but I’m just here to serve you,’ ” she said. “Sometimes I feel I have a true friend tucked away in my phone.”
Lighthearted statements like Ms. Baker’s are easy to dismiss as hyperbole. But perhaps there’s more to it. In a New York Times Op-Ed article in September, Martin Lindstrom, a consumer advocate and branding consultant, described experiments he conducted in which magnetic resonance imaging found a flurry of brain activity, “which is associated with feelings of love and compassion,” when subjects heard their iPhones ring.
Siri is likely to deepen that bond, Mr. Lindstrom said in an interview. Experiments show that each sensory experience added to any interaction deepens the potential for emotional bonding. “We as human beings are incredibly good at trying to find human dimensions in anything in order to create a bond with it,” he said. People, he said, “try to find human relationships in every pattern that we see.”
Such emotional ties with technology have precedent. Mr. Lindstrom pointed to the craze in the late 1990s over Tamagotchi, a key-chain-size electronic “pet” created in Japan. Owners were responsible for feeding, disciplining and medicating their Tamagotchi, or the pet could become sick, starve and “sprout wings” (read: die) in a matter of hours.
Reports at the time documented deep attachments developing among their owners.
Obsessions notwithstanding, Siri’s novelty and sense of humor are creating plenty of followers and Web sites for them. Marriage propositions like Ms. Baker’s are apparently common.
For others, the enthusiasm is a more measured. “It’s better than many of my relationships, despite the fact she’s always telling me what to do,” Mr. Johnson said. “I don’t understand why people keep asking her to marry them, though. It’s bad enough I had to sign up with AT&T for two more years.” ..Source.. by Austin Considine
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The end of ‘Bookville’ homeless camp under the Tuttle?
11-5-2011 Florida:
Where did all the sex offenders go after their eviction last year from under the Julia Tuttle Causeway? Reporter Robert Lyle’s WLRN radio series tracked down several former residents of this unlamented monument to the law of unintended consequences, and we want to add further information.
The causeway colony, the subject of lurid international headlines and a recent novel by Russell Banks, resulted from local laws that restrict sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet — one-half mile — from places that children gather, like schools, parks and school bus stops. In a dense urban county like ours, there is almost no affordable housing outside these boundaries. The inevitable consequence of these laws was to force sex offenders into homelessness.
The state had already passed a carefully-considered 1,000-foot law that would have allowed shelter for most of the county’s offenders. Furthermore, a geo-mapping survey proved there were far more registered sex offenders in the county than affordable housing units outside the 2,500-foot zone. Finally, social scientists have achieved rare unanimity about two issues: (1) housing instability increases the risk of recidivism among all offenders, and (2) residing near a school or park does not increase the already-low recidivism rate by the vast majority of sex offenders.
But lobbyist Ron Book, driven by his daughter’s widely-reported abuse by the family nanny, championed the residency restrictions. He insisted they were necessary to protect children, and that there was adequate housing outside the banishment zone. He derided those who disagreed as advocates for predators; he called their studies “suspect.”
The link between Book’s campaign and the causeway colony was so direct that those who lived there came to call it “Bookville.”
Once Bookville became an international embarrassment, it paradoxically fell to Book, as chairman of the Homeless Trust, to find shelter for its occupants. After boarding up the camp, Book used federal stimulus money to buy short-term stays (6-12 months) in housing, costing up to $1,000 a month for offenders who, without Book’s laws, could have lived for free with friends and family.
These arrangements were controversial for reasons other than funding source, duration and cost. Book placed 13 predators (“real bad guys,” he said) within a half-square mile in the quiet family neighborhood of Shorecrest. “We ran the Shorecrest ZIP code and it just popped up as an eligible site. So I drove it and determined that it would be a good fit to relocate the sexual predators,” Book explained. Shorecrest’s residents do not agree with Book’s assessment of “fit.” He placed another 43 in a cramped trailer park “teeming” with children.
Whatever the merits of Book’s resettlement efforts, he cautioned they were temporary: “I can’t pay rent for these people forever. It runs for a period of time and runs out.” Indeed, soon afterwards, Book declared an end to the Trust’s aid for the Bookville exiles: “As far as we’re concerned, our help for people under the bridge is done.” He acknowledged, however, that without this aid, many would “end up back somewhere on the streets,” adding ominously “We just don’t know where.”
How right Book was. Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s registry (the numbers change monthly) reveals that of 1,960 sex offenders/predators in Miami-Dade County, 256 — about one out of seven — have absconded. Absconders are those sex offenders who have stopped reporting their whereabouts, or cut off their ankle monitors, or otherwise escaped supervision. Of those who have not yet absconded, 191 are homeless. They sleep under bridges, or in lots and fields throughout the county. Somewhere between this rainy season and the end of winter, some of these homeless offenders may also abscond.
Boarding up Bookville hasn’t solved the problem of these laws. It has merely created another set of problems. ..Source.. by Valerie Jonas who is a South Florida attorney specializing in criminal defense appeals. Dr. Walter G. Bradley is professor and chairman emeritus of the Department of Neurology at the University of Miami medical school.
Friday, November 4, 2011
Google removes review calling man a pedophile and thief
11-4-2011 United Kingdom:
Toni Bennett read the review on Google Places about his computer business. And then he read it again. And again. And he still couldn't believe it: An alleged customer named "Paul" posted these comments:
"Robbed My RAM and Touched 9 Year Old What a scam artist, he stole RAM from my computer and replaced it with smaller chips hoping I wouldnt notice and also I later found out touched my 9 year old inappropriately. A Violator and a rogue trader. DO NOT DO TRADE WITH THIS MAN!"Eighteen months later, the comments are no longer there. Google recently agreed to remove them, Bennett told the BBC. And it wasn't a moment too soon: the IT consultant from Bridgnorth, in Shropshire County, England, was on the verge of suing the search giant for defamation after repeated, failed efforts to have the comments removed.
Bennett even went to the police for help, "but he said that while they acknowledged the allegations against him were false, they were powerless to intervene," the BBC said.
"It's mad, it's just mad that someone can do this and it's so anonymous that someone can put on something about a crime against a child — you can't get any worse than that ... And they can get away with it," Bennett told the news organization.
Since the posting appeared in April 2010 on Google Places, a service that helps consumers search for local businesses, Bennett estimates he has lost 80 percent of his local clients.
Google would not comment to the BBC about the case; it normally does not publically discuss individual cases. But Google did cite its policies and guidelines for business review postings, saying in a statement that "We have rules against things like hate speech or impersonation, but we're not in a position to arbitrate disputes.
"However, we've built a free system that allows business owners to claim their listing, which means that they can then respond to reviews and share their side of the story."
The sting of the accusations remain for Bennett, who remembers his reaction when he first read them: "I was absolutely gobsmacked."
His request to remove the information was not only one in Britain; in a recent report about takedown requests, Google said in the United Kingdom, the "number of content removal requests we received increased by 71 percent" from January to June of this year, compared to the previous reporting period of July to December 2010. ..Source.. by Suzanne Choney
Thursday, November 3, 2011
House members frustrated by Senate inaction on Megan's Law loophole
These claims that children are left unprotected and registrants are roaming the streets and police don't know where they are. Absolute nonsense, sensationalism, any reasonable person knows that the only thing a registry does is show where the registrant sleeps for a few hours of the day, police call this tracking which is baloney!11-3-2011 Pennsylvania:
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) - The state House has now twice passed legislation to close loopholes in the Pennsylvania law that requires sexual offenders to register their address with state police, and its members are becoming increasingly frustrated that their counterparts in the Senate have yet to go along with them.
Senate Bill 818, passed this week by the House, requires out-of-state offenders who move to Pennsylvania to register under Megan's Law or face criminal penalties. Homeless offenders would have to register as "transients" every 30 days and provide information about where they may be found.
Similar legislation was approved by the House in February.
"We've been waiting eight months for the Senate to act," Rep. Ron Marsico (R-Dauphin) said. "It's about time they do something."
Ron is not the only Marsico miffed at the Senate. Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico has tossed cases against predators because of the loopholes.
"If I was a convicted sex offender and I was living in Florida where the provisions are pretty tough, I would certainly look at coming to Pennsylvania," Ed Marsico said. "It's an easy fix. It's well past the time for the state Senate to finish the job here."
The loopholes were discovered last year when Superior Court ruled that transients and out-of-state sex offenders are not required to register under Megan's Law and cannot be prosecuted for intentionally failing to register.
The General Assembly passed legislation to close the loopholes last year, but the bill was vetoed by then-governor Ed Rendell because an amendment would have expanded the state's "Castle Doctrine," the law that determines when people can legally use deadly force in self defense.
A spokesman said the Senate wanted to combine the loophole legislation with a state version of the federal Adam Walsh Act, which also requires sex offenders to provide updates on their whereabouts. The Senate, however, may be re-thinking that move.
"The bottom line is, one way or another, this issue will be addressed in very short order and get to the governor's desk so he can sign it and get those loopholes closed," Senate Republican spokesman Erik Arneson said.
"We can't wait any longer," Ron Marsico said. "These convicted sexual predators are roaming the streets of our Commonwealth and our children are unprotected." ..Source.. by Dennis Owens and Myles Snyder
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
More than 800 sex offenders released from Georgia registry
11-2-2011 Georgia:
ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) - A CBS Atlanta News investigation has uncovered that hundreds of potentially dangerous sex offenders have been removed from Georgia's sex offender registry. Those criminals are unable to be tracked, and in many cases, the records of their horrific crimes have been wiped clean.
The criminals removed from the sex offender registry include child molesters and those convicted of aggravated sodomy and rape.
But if you think you can log onto the Georgia sex offender registry to find those convicts living in your neighborhood, you're wrong. Under new Georgia laws, you may have no way knowing they are living next door.
CBS Atlanta's Chief Investigative Reporter Wendy Saltzman asked John Bankhead, the spokesman for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, how someone would know if a child molester was living next door to them.
"You don't, if that person is no longer on the registry," said Bankhead.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation confirmed to CBS Atlanta that for a variety of reasons, 809 sex offenders have been removed from the state's registry in the last 15 months.
More than 400 have been removed because they were convicted of misdemeanor crimes. Under Georgia's new law, they are allowed to be released once they complete their sentence.
Some sex offenders were sentenced as first offenders - even in brutal cases where there were multiple victims.
Other sex offenders petitioned a judge to be released from the registry, and CBS Atlanta found even child molesters have successfully petitioned for their removal.
Robert Anderson was one of those convicted sex offenders. In 2002, Anderson was charged with child molestation, aggravated child molestation and rape.
CBS Atlanta spoke to the woman whom Anderson assaulted as a child.
"It started when I was five, and happened all the way until I was 10," said "KiKi," Anderson's victim.
For a period of five years, Anderson molested KiKi hundreds of times. He was the step-father she should have trusted, but feared instead.
"I am lucky because I am alive," she said. "And he didn't kill me or something. Who's to say the next person he won't do that to?"
Anderson is now out of jail, and surprisingly, his criminal history has disappeared from Georgia's sex offender registry.
"To think he is just out and no one knows where he is, it is scary," she said. "He could do it again, and he probably will, if he hasn't already."
CBS Atlanta checked multiple addresses listed for Anderson, but he has seemingly disappeared and could be living right next door to you.
Richard Kelly, another convicted sex offender, was found guilty on two counts of aggravated child molestation for molesting two young kids.
CBS Atlanta spoke with one of Kelly's victims who was just 3-years-old when Kelly, his babysitter, molested him and his sister.
"He is a menace to society right now," said the victim, who didn't want to be identified. "He is a risk to everyone in sight."
Kelly was released in 2007, and now he's nowhere to be found.
Saltzman asked Kelly's victim is he thought Kelly should have been left off the registry.
"I don't think he should have been allowed out of jail," said the victim. "Those should be the people that they give life (in prison)."
Saltzman tracked down other sex offenders who are petitioning the courts claiming they should be off the list, like Michael Tutt, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a child.
Saltzman asked him why he thought he should be allowed off the registry.
"I don't have to talk about this," Tutt replied before shutting the door in Saltzman's face.
Saltzman also talked to the mother of Kelvin Atkinson, a sex offender who pled guilty to one count of child molestation, although investigators believe actually raped several victims.
"Do you think it is safe for him to be off the sex offender registry with other kids?" Saltzman asked Atkinson's mom.
"I have no comment for you or anybody else, so get away from my door," she replied.
Another convicted offender, Charlton Green, was found guilty of sodomy after having sexual relations with an juvenile boy.
"It's not like I am a monster or anything," Green told Saltzman. "It is just like I am doing everything that everyone else around here is doing."
Tracy Alvord, the Executive Director of Georgia's Sex Offender Review Board, admits most people have no idea they may have a convicted sex offender living right next door, next to their child's bus stop or by their school.
"They are no longer being monitored in any kind of way, so they can do whatever they want to do," said Alvord.
Once these offenders are removed from the registry, there is no way to track them, and no one is watching what they are doing.
Saltzman asked Alvord how can someone convicted of child molestation could be removed from the registry.
"And they do ask me that, and I say, ‘I don't remove them from the registry,'" said Alvord.
Those offenders are removed by law, or under the direction of a judge. ..Source.. by Wendy Saltzman
Man with sword is shot after allegedly charging Hawkins County deputy
11-2-2011 Tennessee:
CHURCH HILL — A Hawkins County deputy shot a convicted sex offender Tuesday afternoon who allegedly lunged at the deputy with a sword while the deputy was attempting to serve a probation violation warrant.
The shooting occurred shortly after noon at the home of Brandon Lee Laferty, 26, 298 Dykes Road, located in the Goshen Valley community just south of Church Hill.
Hawkins County Sheriff Ronnie Lawson said his deputies were attempting to serve a Sullivan County probation violation warrant on Laferty, who was convicted of solicitation of aggravated sexual battery in 2008.
Upon entering the residence, deputies allegedly encountered Laferty in the back bedroom armed with a knife.
“Mr. Laferty was ordered numerous times to put down his weapon, at which time he picked up a short blade sword,” Lawson said. “Deputies utilized pepper spray ... in an attempt to disarm him. Mr. Laferty stated he wasn’t going back to prison for 10 years and lunged at a deputy with the sword.
“The deputy fired one round, striking Mr. Laferty in the chest, at which time he was disarmed.”
Laferty was transported by Church Hill EMS to Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, where he immediately underwent surgery.
No further information about Laferty’s condition was available Tuesday.
Two deputies involved in the arrest, including the deputy who fired the shot, were placed on administrative leave, as is routine following shooting incidents.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the attorney general’s office are conducting independent investigations into the shooting.
“After reviewing evidence at the scene, speaking with a witness and my deputies, I find my deputies conducted themselves appropriately,” Lawson said.
Megan Lyons, 25, 4051 Skyland Drive, Kingsport, who was present at the time of the shooting was charged with felony false report.
A small child was also at the residence at the time of the shooting. The child was placed in the custody of the Department of Children’s Services. ..Source.. by Jeff Bobo
ACTION ALERT: California Sex Offender Registry Law: New change affecting former sex offenders REMOVED from the registry
11-2-2011 California:
Over the years California has excluded some folks from the public registry, by a procedure, court orders or operation of law. However, since Prop-83 California has made several subtle changes to its laws which have not been well publicized.
Today we need to notify ANY former California sex offender who HAS ALREADY BEEN REMOVED from the public registry, that effective 1-1-2012 those folks will be automatically RESTORED to the public registry unless they file for EXCLUSION following a new procedure that has been added to California registry law.
There is no doubt that this will come as a surprise to these folks, and likely they are not watching laws as changes are made, and they will be blind-sighted by this change. I can see they may even be harmed in some way, like lose a job or housing. This is why we need every Advocate to announce this to their memberships and get folks talking about this so those folks can do what is necessary to remain off the public registry.
Here is the change that lawmakers have tucked into registry law:Penal Code 290.46(e)(4) Effective January 1, 2012, no person shall be excluded pursuant to this subdivision unless the offender has submitted to the department documentation sufficient for the department to determine that he or she has a SARATSO risk level of low or moderate-low.A reasonable reading of that change tells us that, even after following the procedure, unless the former offender's SARATSO risk level low or moderate-low, they will be restored to the public registry. Yes, some will result in a higher risk level and they will again be harmed by the public registry.
The form to use is HERE and more about the SARATSO system is HERE.
Now, because it appears that information is required that would require offenders to reveal facts about their past crime, I STRONGLY SUGGEST you seek a lawyer to help you file what is necessary. A lawyer can tell you what should or shouldn't be revealed or how to say what is necessary. PROTECT you rights at all costs.
PLEASE pass this along to anyone in California so they can find these folks and tell them what they need to do. Get folks talking about this, to find these folks and protect their rights.
Thanks, have a great day & a better tomorrow.
eAdvocate
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Crackdown on Iowa sex offenders increases costs, not public safety
11-1-2011 Iowa:
More than 3,000 Iowa adults have been convicted of sex crimes since 2005. Still, Iowa sex offender law remains largely shaped by one offender. Roger Bentley is serving two life prison terms at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison for the 2005 kidnapping, rape and killing of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage.
The crime continues to repulse, fueling the legislative sentiment to punish each of those 3,000 sex offenders the same way as Bentley.
Consequently, Iowa jails and prisons are filling up with sex offenders. Parole caseloads are packed with them. County sheriff’s deputies and local police statewide have expended millions enforcing registry laws.
Fortunately, the Iowa Sex Offender Research Council has studied those 3,000 adult offenders and some 300 juvenile offenders to determine if this massive increase in taxpayer resources is working. A draft report recommends a more focused approach that research shows can have a greater impact at less cost.
Their conclusion: All sex offenders, particularly juveniles, are not Roger Bentley. The panel’s research of Iowa cases, and a review of the latest studies elsewhere, concludes that routinely labeling sex offenders for life deprives them of a decent place to live, a decent job, decent friends and the support of decent family.
Consequently, the public registry “increases stress on the offender, destabilizes their community lives and could lead to a sense that changing behaviors would not improve their life circumstances.”
In other words, treating all offenders like Roger Bentley can turn some into Roger Bentley, remorseless predators who prey on gullible acquaintances.
This study also points out what prosecutors, cops and researchers have long known: “The difficulty in moving emphasis away from the general perception that the greatest risk of child victimization is from strangers, to the evidence-based reality of victimization from family and friends.”
Lawmakers’ absolutely mistaken belief that sex offenses are most often committed by strangers led to those absolutely useless perimeters that local police judiciously enforce to keep former offenders away from schools, parks and day cares.
“Where offenders live and work has little to do with where they are likely to re-offend,” this study concludes.
This new study seems to support a complete reversal of the crackdown that increased prison and parole terms since Bentley’s conviction.
But the primary recommendation is much more modest: Periodically review sex offenders on mandatory lifetime and 10-year parole to determine if it is warranted in every case.
Those inflexible paroles are expected to swell caseloads by 78 percent in the next 10 years at a cost exceeding $35 million.
Some might argue that $35 million in taxpayer dollars over 10 years is worth it if it saves just one child. But the research fails to find any conclusive evidence it is saving any children.
What it shows is a system that leaves every offender — a remorseful teen or the next Bentley — in the same miserable boat, unable to find work, lawful acquaintances, or even a home that isn’t surrounded by other sex offenders.
That conclusion suggests that rather than reduce sex offenses, Iowa’s one-size-fits-none crackdown threatens to turn one-time offenders into lifetime offenders. ..Editorial.. by The Quad-City Times, like the Globe Gazette a Lee Enterprises newspaper.
Sex Offenses Most Common Officer Misconduct
11-1-2011 Utah:
Utah police officers most frequently lose their certification or are suspended from their jobs after sexual misconduct offenses.
Officers from agencies small and large commit sex offenses more often than any other offense, including excessive force, falsifying reports or driving under the influence, according to data from the state's Peace Officers Standards and Training Council (POST).
Among the offenses: rape, attempted sodomy; child sex abuse; and having sex with inmates, parolees or people on probation.
An analysis of records by The Salt Lake Tribune showed that of 94 officers whose certifications were revoked between 2000 and 2005, 42 were accused of sexual offenses. Over the same five year period, another 22 officers were suspended for the same reason.
In another 1,000 disciplinary cases reviewed by the POST Council between 1991 and 2003, 212 cases -- or 21 percent -- included sexual offenses. Only 12 complaints of excessive force were investigated during the same 12-year period, records show.
This year alone, POST has decertified corrections officers in Davis, Millard and Washington counties, and a South Salt Lake police officers for sexual offenses.
"It has ballooned in the last couple of years, and it's alarming to us. We're very concerned about the trends," said POST Director Rich Townsend.
But not all the cases result in criminal prosecution. As Townsend explains, the offenses may be ethical violation, but they don't always fit into criminal offenses defined by the state.
And some violations never make it as far as POST. Some police chiefs and sheriff fail to report misconduct, Townsend said.
"Law enforcement needs to be concerned," Townsend said. "Law enforcement administrators better wake up and be concerned because, again, so much hope is placed in the integrity of the profession." ..Source.. by Brian Hill
