Mistake on driver’s license labeled man as sex offender (and now a woman too)

7-9-15 Florida:

A simple mistake on your driver’s license, and it could severely change your life, costing you friends, family and even a job.That mistake cost a local man his reputation even within his own family.

Andrew Stokes Flaherty got a new identification card in 2012. But the legally blind 48-year-old couldn't see what was printed in the corner. Six months later, as he pulled into NAS JAX, the numbers 943.0435 changed Flaherty's life forever.

“He had tried to get on the naval base with his brother and they almost arrested him, were very, very upset with him and said some choice things because here was a sexual offender trying to get on the naval base,” said John Philips, Flaherty’s attorney.

Phillips says Andrew Flaherty was caught off-guard. “He said, ‘Wait, wait, wait, no I'm not,'” Phillips said. “It was embarrassing. His own brother even second-guessed him -- 'Hey, what are you not telling me?'”

But Flaherty was telling the truth. He'd been incorrectly labeled a sex offender by an employee who worked at the tax collector's office on Blanding Boulevard.

“Simply put, there's a drop-down menu and she clicked the wrong button,” Phillips said.

It’s a simple mistake that Action News found has repeated time and time again across Florida.

“I put it in my wallet and I left,” said Tammy Lemasters, a victim of incorrect labeling. In May, Lemasters went weeks before noticing she'd been labeled a sexual predator on her new license.

Reporters followed the Lake County mother, who has no criminal record, back to the office to confront the manager. But Phillips, who also represents Lemasters, says even though the mistake was corrected, the label will live with her forever. “In that court record it will always say, Tammy Lemasters, sexual predator,” Phillips said.

The Duval County tax collector issues licenses and ID cards on behalf of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

But for years, the state's software listed sex offender and predator right alongside other more often used selections, like insulin dependent and organ donor.

“It was easy to click the wrong box,” said Sherry Hall, the chief administrator of the Duval County Tax Collectors Office.

Hall said her staff was devastated to learn of their mistake. “Michael Corrigan (tax collector) immediately called the state and demanded some safeguards be put into place,” Hall said.

In May, a new version of that software was rolled out. Now, multiple safeguards are in place to double-check a sex offender or predator designation.

But Andrew Flaherty didn't live to see this change. He sued the tax collector, but died last year still waiting for an apology. In June, the city settled the case and paid his estate $20,000. ..source.. by Amanda Warford

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Iowa’s going to have smartphone driver’s licenses

Think of the issues this would raise, especially giving a smartphone to a cop in a traffic stop so he can check it out in his vehicle! And for RSOs wow...anything possible. Then if a smartphone is lost? UPDATE: Some issues answered in this article: "Iowa wants to make driver's license apps for smartphones...

12-10-2014 Iowa:

The Iowa Department of Transportation said it plans to pilot a smartphone driver’s license program that could one day make plastic licenses a thing of the past.

“It’s really moving beyond a static thing,” said Mark Lowe, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation Motor Vehicles Division, in an interview with The Washington Post.

The concept is to not only host the license in an app, but to also be able to send push notifications about, say, traffic, or if a user’s license is about to expire, Lowe said. He said he is “not aware” of any other state that has a similar program.

A group of state employees that travels frequently for work will pilot the program in the next six months, and the department of transportation will determine the next steps for wider use, including giving Iowans the option to try to the smartphone license while waiting for their plastic version to arrive in the mail.

“I think for us right now, what we want to focus on is the option,” Lowe said.

The state will also have to educate officers, those who sell alcohol and tobacco, and the TSA to ensure that the licenses are recognized, but Lowe thinks digital licenses are the way of the future. People “really expect to use those mobile devices,” he said.

Iowa is one of more than 30 states that lets drivers show proof of insurance on their phone, according to the Des Moines Register. ..Source.. by Hunter Schwarz

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Guilty of illness: Milford man, a convicted sex offender, seeks to educate: HIV is not a crime

Notice "Sex Offender" under photo.

10-22-2012 Louisiana, Pennsylvania:

When sex offender ___ moved to town, police went door to door to warn Milford business owners and residents.

His crime?

___, who is HIV-positive, had sex with his partner.

Though consensual, it was an act that landed him in a hard-labor prison, branded him a sex offender and changed his life.

After a 2008 relationship ended badly, his then-partner told Shreveport, La., police that ___ did not disclose his HIV status before they were intimate.

Soon, ___ realized he was being investigated.

Search warrant

Sex crime detectives visited him at the Louisiana Second Circuit Court of Appeals, where he worked as an assistant clerk.

"The only question they ever asked me was, 'Do I know that person?'" ___ said.

One day he returned home from work and found a search warrant on the kitchen counter.

Detectives had gone through his apartment, opening doors and drawers, searching for documents and medicine related to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

"When I saw that, my stomach just turned. It was like, this wasn't real. Wow, I'm really being investigated. At that point, I did not understand how far it could go," ___ said.

'Shameful'

Things were quiet for a while. Then in August 2008, after ___ returned from lunch to work, court security called him to the front desk.

Sex crime detectives were waiting there with handcuffs.

"They told me, 'Put your arms behind your back. You are under arrest'," ___ said. "My mind went blank. I said, 'What for?' and one said, 'Do you want me to say what it is?'"

It was a humiliating confrontation in front of friends and co-workers.

He was not out as a gay man or as being HIV-positive. Not that he was trying to hide it. He just kept his personal life personal.

"It was shameful and it continued to be shameful," ___ said.

The charge was "intentional exposure to the AIDS virus."

He spent three days in jail, was released on bond and awaited multiple court hearings that dragged on for almost a year.

As an accused felon, he could no longer work in the court and was placed on leave.

Burden of proof

"In court, it boils down to whether the person with HIV can prove they disclosed," said Sean Strub of Milford, executive director of Sero, a national advocacy group that helps people who have faced stigma, discrimination or prosecution for being HIV-positive.

"We don't have laws like this for other sexually transmitted infections. In the absence of any measurable risk of transmission, they are just based on fear and stigma."

___ was convicted in June 2009, but it took nearly another year to be sentenced. He went to prison in July 2010 and was released in January 2011.

___ was required to register as a sex offender for 15 years, which in Louisiana comes with a long list of requirements.

His driver's license prominently declares him a sex offender, he must notify landlords and employers that he is a sex offender and when he moves to a new area, neighbors, businesses, schools, child care centers, parks and playgrounds must be notified of his presence.

Pennsylvania does not require this level of notification, unless the offender comes from a state where it is required, Strub said.

HIV criminalization

___ lives with a host of stigmas.

"If I could change being gay, I would. It's almost like I messed myself up for living in this society. I'm black, gay and a sex offender. Those things don't look good. You have to work three times harder to show yourself as a worthy person, not what society says you are," ___ said.

Despite the stigma, ___ says he feels like a normal person and draws self-worth from his faith.

"In Christ, there is no condemnation. I have no reason to be ashamed of being black, gay or being HIV-positive. I'm not defined by any of those things," ___ said.

In the days after being released from prison, he read an article about HIV criminalization written by Strub.

It was the first time he realized there was a name for what had happened to him and that others are being charged for HIV-related crimes.

'I care'

People charged with a crime get more severe sentences when they are HIV-positive.

"___ in Texas spit at a cop. Not nice behavior, appropriate for some kind of charge. But he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, and it put him in jail for 35 years," Strub said.

Even without a crime, some with HIV are treated like criminals through discrimination.

Milton Hershey School and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania settled a lawsuit last month involving a 13-year-old who was denied admission to the school because he tests HIV-positive. The school now will pay $700,000 to the boy and his mother and allow admission of HIV-positive students.

___'s mission in life has become ending HIV criminalization. Today he works with Strub as the assistant director of Sero.

"I realize the vulnerability of people with HIV and how easy it is for them to be received as people who intentionally want to harm people — that seems to be the idea — that is what we intend to do. We do not want to infect others. We just want to live our lives," ___ said. "It seems that because we are HIV-positive, we have no value. We are of value. It's like it's OK for us to be prosecuted. I'm doing this because it is hard being HIV-positive in a society that does not seem to care. I care. And I hope somebody else does." ..Source.. by Beth Brelje, Pocono Record Writer

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Senate panel considers sex offender bill

2-10-2011 Kansas:

When a convicted sex offender from California moved 200 feet from Scarborough Elementary School last year, it upset an entire Olathe neighborhood.

Neighbors mobilized to get the man to move away and see that a similar situation didn't happen somewhere else.

The effort has made its way to the Statehouse, where Kansas lawmakers are considering a bill that would bar some sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or licensed day care. It also would mark their driver's licenses with the word "offender" — in different colors to show whether the victim was a child or adult — and bar offenders from school property.

The residency rule would apply to offenders whose victims were younger than 16.

A previous, similar proposal failed over objections from rural legislators who feared it would send sex offenders to their districts. The bill under discussion now is crafted to ease their concerns.

The offender near Scarborough "served as a spark to illuminate a problem that affects every neighborhood and every school and every child in Kansas," Michell Prothe of Olathe told a state Senate panel this week in Topeka.

In that case, the neighbors discovered that the man was supposed to be under the supervision of a probation officer in Kansas but was not, and eventually he had to move.

Senate Bill 39, which Olathe Republican Rob Olson introduced in the Legislature recently, is before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Hearings will continue next week.

"I strongly believe this bill will correct some critical lapses in current state law which will give law enforcement the tools necessary to protect our children," Olson told the committee.

Some, however, have questioned the effectiveness of residency restrictions in stopping sex crimes against children.

Former Sen. Karin Brownlee of Olathe cited a 2006 report for the Ohio Sentencing Commission that found 93 percent of molestation victims were well known to their perpetrators.

An earlier Ohio study found that 89 percent of sex offenders had never been convicted before and that only 2.2 percent of child molesters were strangers to their victims.

"If they are first-time offenders, then a residency requirement wouldn't have stopped them," Brownlee said.

Leslie Ramirez, a leader in the Scarborough-area campaign, told the Senate committee that she was aware of these studies. But she said they often lump all sex offenders together rather than look at pedophiles.

She said other studies have found that sex offenders who target children choose to live near where potential victims gather.

Prothe said: "We do not believe these types of child sex offender laws provide a false sense of security as some have suggested."

She acknowledges that passing the legislation won't guarantee that children won't be sexually assaulted.

"But the chances will be decreased if we implement a healthy buffer zone between children, their parents and the people who have proven they harm innocent children," she said.

A bill prohibiting sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school was proposed in 2007 but died when it was opposed by rural lawmakers. They feared that such a prohibition would prevent sex offenders from living just about anywhere in a city, forcing them into rural areas.

Larry Campbell, a former state lawmaker and current Olathe city council member, said that problem prompted a request to city planners to plot areas on a city map that were 2,000 feet from a school or licensed day care.

"It showed there were still plenty of places in the city where they could live," he said.

Donna Sibaai of Wichita told the committee that many states and cities surrounding Kansas have residency restrictions for child sex offenders. In Missouri, she said, offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of a school or child care facility. She said Oklahoma imposes a 2,000-foot restriction.

"We need the legislation not only to help us protect our kids," she said, "we need it so we don't invite child sex offenders into our borders." ..Source.. JIM SULLINGER, Kansas City Star

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Proposed State Bill Requires Sex Offenders to be Identified on Driver's License

Unbelievable, a code which can only be read by the police. With what X-Ray Vision glasses. If it can only be read by police, and not visible to others, how would a policeman know to put on his X-Ray vision glasses, or whatever other tricky way they use to read the invisible code? If the police stop someone, they run the license and immediately know who they are dealing with. This is a further waste of time and taxpayer money to appease one lawmaker. Anything visible and the public will quickly get to know the code and that would affect transactions between the former offender and that business. Stop this insanity!

1-27-2011 Maryland:

ANNAPOLIS (January 25, 2011) - State Sen. Richard F. Colburn wants to make sure police officers in Maryland know what they're dealing with when they stop a sex offender on the road, especially if that sex offender has a child in the car.

Colburn, R-Dorchester, has introduced legislation this year that would require that driver's licenses display a code identifying sex offenders to law enforcement.

"I believe that if we're serious about cracking down on sex offenders, we need to give our police officers this tool," Colburn said.

Colburn introduced a similar measure last year during a flurry of legislative activity on sex offenders in response to the December 2009 rape and murder of 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell in Wicomico County. A registered sex offender has been charged with the crime.

The 2010 legislation passed the Senate but died in conference committee due to concerns that the amendment had not been properly vetted and that it could lead to violation of offenders' rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union has been among those opposed to such legislation, calling any mark on an identification card "a scarlet letter" and an unnecessary measure.

David Walsh-Little, a public defender and member of Maryland's Sex Offender Advisory Board, said the mark would have the effect of "marginalizing people who need treatment in a society that needs education about sex offenses."

Colburn said the code, placed on a sex offender's driver's license by the Motor Vehicle Administration, could only be read by law enforcement. And that might be enough to convince other legislators to support the bill.

"If Sen. Colburn brings it back to the Judicial Proceedings Committee, and it's in a code that's only discernible to police officers, it has my support," said Sen. James Brochin, D-Baltimore County, and a member of that committee. "Because I think that's a win-win."

Colburn is unsure of how exactly the bill would be implemented, but Wicomico County Sherriff Mike Lewis, who led the search for Sarah Foxwell and worked with Colburn on the legislation, said there are a couple of ways it could be marked on the license -- either in the bar code or with a small, lettered caution code, similar to the marking for drivers with corrective lenses.

Lewis said that such marks would give his officers an additional level of awareness when pulling over sex offenders.

"I have every right, actually I have a duty, to ask that sex offender additional questions if he has a child in the car," Lewis said. Investigators believe that Sarah Foxwell was driven throughout Wicomico County the night of her disappearance.

Similar legislation has been considered in Connecticut and California. A few states, including Delaware, Louisiana and Tennessee, already have laws for marking the driver's licenses of sex offenders.

Other legislation has been introduced to crack down on sex offenders, including a bill toughening the punishment for indecent exposure involving minors and a bill to criminalize attempted sexual offense in the third degree. ..Source.. HOLLY NUNN

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Sex offender driver's license legislation rejected by senate committee

6-19-2010 California:

SCONDIDO (CNS) - Legislation aimed at requiring registered sex offenders to have distinctive driver's licenses was rejected in the state Senate Transportation Committee, it was reported Wednesday.
Maurice "Moe" Dubois, the father of slain Escondido teenager Amber Dubois, has been working with Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, to come up with legislation for better coordinating law enforcement efforts when a child is abducted.

On Tuesday, senators voted to reject the legislation 5-2 along party lines, with Democrats opposed, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Committee members worried over how such a law might brand minor offenders. They also complained that it did not include penalties for noncompliance, the newspaper reported.

"They brought up some points that we have to recognize are valid. We will have to rework it," Dubois said after testifying before the committee.

The Dubois spent more than a year looking for their 14-year-old daughter, who disappeared in Feb. 13, 2009 while walking to Escondido High School.

After his arrest for the Feb. 25 rape and murder of 17-year-old Chelsea King, sex offender John Albert Gardner III led authorities to Amber's remains in Pala.

Gardner, 31, later pleaded guilty to raping and murdering both teens and was sentenced to a pair of life prison terms without the possibility of parole. He also admitted attacking another young woman in December in the same park where Chelsea was killed, but that victim managed to get away. ..SOurce.. KUSI News

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Calif. to consider marked IDs for sex offenders

Legal? Maybe not...See commentary before the U.S. Supreme court below!

5-26-2010 California:

SAN DIEGO -- The father of a 14-year-old San Diego-area girl who was raped and murdered backed legislation Tuesday to require marked driver's licenses for registered sex offenders in California.

Maurice Dubois announced his support of the bill proposed by Assemblymen Pedro Nava and Paul Cook that would require sex offenders to carry the license or another government-issued identification card when they leave home.

The documents could include a distinctive stripe or color.

Registered sex offender John Albert Gardner III was sentenced to life in prison this month for killing Amber Dubois and 17-year-old Chelsea King.

Amber vanished while walking to school in February 2009. ..Source.. by Forbes.com

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COMMENTARY from U.S. Supreme Court:
Does this violate the ex post facto clause, most would say, no, but read on. When RSOs go in to register they provide information to the registry. Then the registry displays certain of that information on a public registry; all state action. However, driver's licenses and license plates are vastly different. How you ask? Well, who is carrying the state's message, the RSO, that is not like the state displaying information on the Internet. In the U.S. Supreme court, the case of Smith v. Doe (Sex offender registration), during Oral Argument the following discussion took place between Mr. Olson (then Solicitor General for the U.S.) and Justice Kennedy:

Justice Kennedy QUESTION: Could -- could the State require a special mark on your license plate?

MR. OLSON: No, I -- well, I don't know, Justice Kennedy, but I would say that would be considerably different than what's here because that would --

QUESTION: I don't think it's very different.

MR. OLSON: Pardon me?

QUESTION: I don't think it's very different.

MR. OLSON: I -- I respectfully submit that it's a great deal different. That mark on your license plate, or mark on your forehead would go wherever you would go. It would require you to carry the government's message rather than the government supplying the message.

QUESTION: Well, this statute requires you to make the government's message four times a year.

MR. OLSON: It only -- it doesn't require you to make the government's message four times a year. The government's message, I respectfully submit, is made when a citizen submits an inquiry to the State through the Internet listing. All -- it is required four times a year is to advise the government of a current location or current information so that the information on the registry is accurate and -- and up-to-date.

So, who is carrying the message? It is the RSO when it is on his driver's license or license plate. That distinction, following the sentencing where it was not part of the sentence, could very well be construed as further punishment. i.e., a ex post facto violation. Apparently, there is something in law about, who carries the message, and lawyers know about this. Now to find those lawyers to fight the issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme court. That may be easier said than done.

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Sex offender laws pass without Colburn's license provision

4-20-2010 Maryland:

Measure likened to a "scarlet letter"

ANNAPOLIS On the last day of the Maryland General Assembly's 2010 session, delegates passed a bill that would create stricter registration laws and establish a three-tier ranking system for sex offenders, but chose to omit an amendment to the bill that would add special coding to sex offenders' drivers licenses.

Maryland senators passed House Bill 936 Saturday by a vote of 44-1 with the driver's license amendment attached, prompting the bill to return to the House for approval.

With the session ending Monday at midnight, state Sen. Richard Colburn, R-37-Mid-Shore, the sponsor of the amendment, said he knew the bill's passage would come down to the wire, but had hoped his amendment would make it through as well.

"Important sex offender laws remained disturbingly unfinished," said Colburn. "If we're truly trying to address this issue with sex offenders, then we need to give this tool to police officers."

However, Colburn did concede that it was better to get some legislation passed than none at all.

The amendment would have required the marking to be done in a way that only law enforcement officials could understand, and would only have applied to more serious sex offenders.

While supporters of the amendment said the provision would instantly draw the attention of police officers to certain situations, opponents likened the markings to a "scarlet letter," saying it would make it tougher for those on parole to rejoin society and would drive more sex offenders underground.

In addition, critics said that sex offender's status is already available to police officers through database systems, making the marking unnecessary. However, Colburn has argued that the markings would be helpful in case those systems were unavailable or if the police officer did not have access to them.

Sex offender legislation stormed the General Assembly this session after Thomas Leggs Jr., a convicted sex offender in Maryland and Delaware, was charged with murdering 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell, the Salisbury girl whose body was found Christmas Day near Delmar.

Colburn said about 100 bills targeting sex offenders were introduced this session as a result of the Foxwell case, 10 times as many as would have been introduced any other year.

Although the driver's license provision was not passed, other sex offender laws that made it through the General Assembly on the final day of the session include:

• Reducing the number of dimunition or "good time" credits available to violent or repeat sex offenders. These credits allow inmates to be released before the end of their sentence for "good behavior."

• The state's publicly available sex offender registry will include more information.

• Minimum prison sentences for some child sex offenders have been tripled to 15 years.

• Requiring lifetime supervision of people convicted of the most severe sex crimes.

Despite all of the successes with sex offender legislation, Colburn said another issue elicited by the Foxwell case that went untouched this session was the state's de facto moratorium on the death penalty that stems from the fact that the method of execution has never been approved by the state.

"One of the best deterrents for a crime like this is the death penalty," said Colburn, of the Foxwell case.

With Wicomico County Sheriff Michael Lewis seeking the death penalty in the Foxwell case, Colburn said it is time for Gov. Martin O'Malley to strongly urge the Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee to bring back the death penalty. ..Source.. CAROLYN SWIFT Staff Writer

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Sex offender tries to hide status on driver's license

Except for the fact that this happened in Florida, I cannot see how they can criminalize his action, assuming he placed a red marker over a portion of the words on the license. Once a license is issued, the physical license is OWNED by the person it is issued to; it is private property. At best, such markings may invalidate the license, but to criminalize his actions is overreaching. He did not change his name, address or anything that identifies him. The altered portion has no legal significance to driving privileges. What if a person had a dirty license, would they be charged with fraud? What if a person said it was in his pocket and refused to take it out, fraud? This world, no maybe just Florida, has gone nuts over anything sexually related. Does Florida's sex offender laws make it a crime to FAIL/HIDE the fact that one is a RSO, a crime?

1-26-2009 Florida:

CRESTVIEW -- A man pulled over for a traffic stop on Jan. 8 was arrested after an Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office deputy noticed that there was a bright red line in the middle of his driver's license.

After John William Redmond, who is 42, was arrested for DUI, the deputy noticed that the red line smeared. When it was wiped off, the words "Criminal Sex Offender" were revealed, according to his arrest report.

He was charged with fraud for trying to hide his status as a sex offender. ..Source..

COMMENTARY:
Does this violate the ex post facto clause, most would say, no, but read on. When RSOs go in to register they provide information to the registry. Then the registry displays certain of that information on a public registry; all state action. However, driver's licenses and license plates are vastly different. How you ask? Well, who is carrying the state's message, the RSO, that is not like the state displaying information on the Internet. In the U.S. Supreme court, the case of Smith v. Doe (Sex offender registration), during Oral Argument the following discussion took place between Mr. Olson (then Solicitor General for the U.S.) and Justice Kennedy:

Justice Kennedy QUESTION: Could -- could the State require a special mark on your license plate?

MR. OLSON: No, I -- well, I don't know, Justice Kennedy, but I would say that would be considerably different than what's here because that would --

QUESTION: I don't think it's very different.

MR. OLSON: Pardon me?

QUESTION: I don't think it's very different.

MR. OLSON: I -- I respectfully submit that it's a great deal different. That mark on your license plate, or mark on your forehead would go wherever you would go. It would require you to carry the government's message rather than the government supplying the message.

QUESTION: Well, this statute requires you to make the government's message four times a year.

MR. OLSON: It only -- it doesn't require you to make the government's message four times a year. The government's message, I respectfully submit, is made when a citizen submits an inquiry to the State through the Internet listing. All -- it is required four times a year is to advise the government of a current location or current information so that the information on the registry is accurate and -- and up-to-date.

So, who is carrying the message? It is the RSO when it is on his driver's license or license plate. That distinction, following the sentencing where it was not part of the sentence, could very well be construed as further punishment. i.e., a ex post facto violation. Apparently, there is something in law about, who carries the message, and lawyers know about this. Now to find those lawyers to fight the issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme court. That may be easier said than done.

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MS- Official: ID sex crime convicts

There isn't a single reason for a policeman to know, beforehand, that someone he stopped is a sex offender, because officers -by law- should be treating everyone stopped equally. Further, since the law prohibits LIVING, not BEING, within a certain distance of a school, such a stop does not justify what this proposed law will do. Finally, marking a driver's license further stigmatizes those offenders in their personal financial transactions where a license is needed for the transaction. This amounts to lawmaker vigilantism as it does not in any way protect children!

10-17-2009 Mississippi:

State lawmakers could discuss legislation during their next session that would give police the ability to distinguish sex offenders by simply looking at their driver's license.

".My goal is not to embarrass someone. My goal is to protect children," said Rep. Brian Aldridge, R-Tupelo, who is drafting the bill. "If someone gets pulled over within 500 feet of a school ... this would just give officers one extra tool to find out whether or not this individual is a registered sex offender."

State law prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 1,500 feet of a school, day care or playground. It also outlaws them from loitering within 500 feet of school property while students are present.

Aldridge said he came up with the idea after observing Lee County deputies conduct stings on online child predators.

"This came to the forefront for me because of the stark reality of what we've seen in Tupelo and Lee County and the number of people arrested due to the stings," he said. "This is a sleepy little town and a sleepy little county, where this stuff is not supposed to happen. And for me, it was, 'OK. This is happening here.' It was eye-opening."

His bill would require the state Department of Public Safety to cross-reference driver's licenses or Social Security numbers against the state's sex offender registry and mark sex offenders' licenses.

Mississippi has a population of about 3 million and about 6,000 registered sex offenders. The department issues photo ID cards to registered sex offenders, who are required to carry the IDs, spokesman Jon Kalahar said.

"They have to come in every 90 days to renew," Kalahar said. "That's how we keep track of where they are living."

Florida, which tracks more than 41,500 sex offenders among its population of 18 million, enacted a similar law in 2007.

"It's simply used by folks in law enforcement to know who they are dealing with," said Dave Westberry, spokesman for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. "It's not the scarlet letter."

Westberry said the law did not require his department to spend much in the way of additional resources.

"It was not a problem. We just made modifications of the licenses and added another field to our driver information database," he said.

The idea has support from local law enforcement. Aldridge said the Lee County Sheriff's Department already has signed on. Hinds County Chief Deputy Steve Pickett said the proposed legislation, "on the face of it, is obviously a good idea."

"I personally don't see this as punitive; it's just like a driver's license for a truck driver," he said. "Anything that can help law enforcement, our office would support."

But getting advocacy groups on board may be a problem.

Mississippi Forum on Children and Families President Jane Boykin said she's concerned the license marking may subject some to unfair treatment. In Mississippi, offenses that require registration range from statutory rape - for instance, a 19-year-old convicted of having sex with a 16-year-old - to forcing a child into prostitution or sexually abusing an elderly or mentally disabled person.

"I want to always protect children, but prevention is where my focus has been for the last two decades," she said. "All sex offenders are not alike."

Nsombi Lambright, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, said the organization thinks the state should put more resources toward rehabilitation and treatment of sex offenders.

"Our opinion is that we continue to focus more on punishing people who have served their time and paid their debt to society," she said.

.A driver's license designation is continued punishment, Lambright said, because it would be noticeable in situations that have nothing to do with law enforcement, such as when a license is used as identification for writing a check or obtaining public utilities.

"And I don't see the point when Mississippi already has a registry," she said. "I can go to the registry right now online and put in someone's name to find out if they're registered or if they live near a school."

Aldridge countered, saying the marking could be discreet. Already, DPS marks licenses to identify people who carry concealed weapons or who are organ donors.

"I'm not looking to make the licenses fuschia or put 'sex offender' in big, bold, huge letters. As far as I'm concerned it doesn't even have to be on the front," he said. "It should just be something that a law enforcement official could identify." ..Source.. by Kathleen Baydala

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Researchers find problems with RFID passport cards

There is a more in-depth discussion here. Note, this RFID type chip is being used on newer driver's licenses (already implemented in Washington and New York, and soon in Michigan).

10-26-2008 National:

RFID tags used in two new types of border-crossing documents in the U.S. are vulnerable to snooping and copying, a researcher said on Thursday

RFID tags used in two new types of border-crossing documents in the U.S. are vulnerable to snooping and copying, a researcher said on Thursday.

United States Passport Cards issued by the U.S. Department of State and EDLs (enhanced driver's licenses) from the state of Washington contain RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags that can be scanned at border crossings without being handed over to agents. Both were introduced earlier this year for border crossings by land and water only, and can't be used for air travel. New York is the only other U.S. state with an EDL, though others are in the works.

The information in these tags could be copied on to another, off-the-shelf tag, which might be used to impersonate the legitimate holder of the card if a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents at the border didn't see the card itself, the researchers said. Another danger is that the tags can be read from as far as 150 feet away in some situations, so criminals could read them without being detected. Although the tags don't contain personal information, they could be used to track a person's movements through ongoing surveillance, they said.

Another danger is that hackers could cause EDLs to self-destruct by sending out a certain number, they said.

"It would be relatively easy for someone to read your passport card or EDL," said Tadayoshi Kohno, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington.

Though there's no reason for panic, "Our hearts should start to beat a little faster," Kohno said. The risk to individual passengers is low, but the problems create systemic weaknesses in the border-crossing system, according to a summary of the report.

Retail, shipping and other businesses are increasingly using RFID tags as wireless bar codes that can contain more information than traditional printed ones. The growth of the technology is making the tools of RFID hacking more easily available, Kohno said.

In a cloning attack, a hacker could read the information off a card's RFID tag, either while the cardholder was passing by or as the official card reader was picking up the data. The attacker could then encode a generic RFID tag with that same data, Kohno said. With that newly encoded tag, someone could slip through the border by appearing to the RFID reader to have a legitimate identification card, as long as no one asked to look at the actual card.

By themselves, the RFID vulnerabilities don't mean someone will get away with cloning or other attacks, Kohno pointed out.

"In reality, the system involved in border crossings is much greater than just the technical aspect," Kohno said. For example, authorities are likely to interview drivers and passengers crossing the border and look at their identification cards, he said. They may also use other measures against card-cloning near border crossings.

However, Kohno and three fellow researchers believe there are mechanisms available for the RFID tags that the U.S. and Washington governments aren't using.

For example, each tag has two specialized numbers: an access PIN (personal identification number) and a kill PIN. (These are larger than bank-card PINs and aren't chosen by the cardholders.) The access PIN can be used to verify that a tag is legitimate and the kill PIN can be used to render the tag unreadable.

The access PINs are used on both the passport cards and the EDLs, but there are additional security measures that the researchers don't think authorities are using. For example, they could test the access PIN using information from a database, Kohno said. In addition, the kill PIN is not set up on the Washington EDLs, which could make them vulnerable to an attack that would make all such cards at a certain site unreadable, he said. Such an attack could cause a nuisance or undermine travelers' confidence, the summary said.

The researchers have given recommendations to both U.S. and Washington authorities, Kohno said.

Full-size U.S. passports, which are booklets instead of cards, aren't affected by these vulnerabilities because their RFID tags have cryptographic protections and the booklets have metallic covers that protect against snooping, the researchers said.

For self-protection, the researchers suggest consumers use the protective sleeves that come with both cards, which can help to prevent clandestine scanning. Travelers can also use the safer full-size U.S. passports instead. ..Source.. by Stephen Lawson (IDG News Service)

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AR- Update: Scarlet Letter Driver's License For Sex Offenders

I can think of no normal scenario where printing "sex offender" on a driver's license will protect a child as this article implies and under these circumstances. If a officer is stopping someone, and the license did not contain SO, the officer is going to run that license anyway. Therefore, printing it on the license is no more than an attempt at shaming, and in my opinion illegal because in financial transactions, where a license is regularly used, that notation is more likely to result in denying the RSO as to the financial transaction. Hopefully, the ACLU will take up this case.

9-17-2008 Arkansas:

Lonoke County Sheriff Jim Roberson wants sex offenders in Arkansas to have a special driver's license.

Roberson says the idea is so simple, he can't believe someone didn't come up with it earlier. But right now it's just that, an idea.

He explains, "We want to see it go forward, but we need help. We need more people aboard."

It's an idea that Roberson believes will go a long way towards protecting children from sex offenders.

"It would be an icon on the license," says Roberson. "It could be a number. It could be a symbol."

Roberson says the purpose is to allow daycare workers or school employees to identify possible job applicants and for law enforcement to help them know who they're dealing with.

"The main thing is if we stop them in a school zone or a daycare zone or a child care zone of a church we can immediately identify them, find out what they are doing there and why," he says.

Similar measures and laws have been enacted in 22 other states. In Oklahoma, the phrase "sex offender" appears on the license in red three times. Delaware began a similar law ten years ago.

Sheriff Roberson says if it is implemented in Arkansas, and a person is convicted of a sex crime, their driver's license would be suspended until they go to Driver's Control to have their license coded.

It's a modern day scarlet letter; Roberson says geared to guard the most vulnerable and innocent.

He says, "One of the questions was what are the rights of the sex offender? And my deal is what about the rights of the victim? What about the rights of the victim that was sexually assaulted 60 times? What about that baby's rights?"

Roberson's office is in the process of sending letters about the proposal to Arkansas Drivers Control, the Arkansas Crime Information Center and to several state lawmakers. ..News Source.. by Ashley Blackstone

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TN- New Law Puts Mark On Sex Offenders' IDs

Are state messages placed on previously convicted sex offenders driver's license or license plates a violation of the ex post facto clause?

See my commentary following the article. eAdvocate

5-29-2008 Tennessee:

Registered Sex Offenders Must Carry Special Driver's License By Sept. 1 See Video which gives a good explanation of how it is currectly thought to be implemented.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The state of Tennessee is set to issue a new kind of driver's license that will have a special marking signifying that the carrier is a sex offender.

Some lawmakers said the idea is so simple that they don't know why they came up with the idea earlier. Police said the new license will go a long way toward protecting children.

State Rep. Debra Maggart said she is troubled by the fact that a sex offender can anonymously roam the streets, especially after police pulled over a sex offender last December.

"He had four or five young boys in the car with him that he had lured out of a sleepover," Maggart said.

That is why Maggart said she backed the bill that recently became law.

On Sept. 1, every registered sex offender in the state must carry the special driver's license.

The Department of Safety said it has yet to design the new license, but Maggart said it will look like any other Tennessee driver's license and only law enforcement officials will be able to see the notification.

Lawmakers said they believe the special ID will alert police when an offender violates the law like going to a public park or getting too close to a school.

"When an officer pulls you over or stops you and looks at your ID -- when he calls that in to dispatch, all he is told is if you have an outstanding warrant or not. They don't share your rap sheet," Maggart said.

Under the new law, if a police officer pulls over a sexual offender, the new license will notify them to look for things they usually would not during a routine traffic stop.

"This helps them do their job and helps protect our children in our state," Maggart said.

Any sex offenders who don't qualify for a Tennessee driver's license will be required to get a state ID that will have the sex offender marking on it. ..News Source.. by Chris Tatum

COMMENTARY:
Does this violate the ex post facto clause, most would say, no, but read on.

When RSOs go in to register they provide information to the registry. Then the registry displays certain of that information on a public registry; all state action.

However, driver's licenses and license plates are vastly different. How you ask? Well, who is carrying the state's message, the RSO, that is not like the state displaying information on the Internet.

So there are some who think that distinction is crazy? In the U.S. Supreme court, the case of Smith v. Doe (Sex offender registration), during Oral Argument the following discussion took place between Mr. Olson (then Solicitor General for the U.S.) and Justice Kennedy:

Justice Kennedy QUESTION: Could -- could the State require a special mark on your license plate?

MR. OLSON: No, I -- well, I don't know, Justice Kennedy, but I would say that would be considerably different than what's here because that would --

QUESTION: I don't think it's very different.

MR. OLSON: Pardon me?

QUESTION: I don't think it's very different.

MR. OLSON: I -- I respectfully submit that it's a great deal different. That mark on your license plate, or mark on your forehead would go wherever you would go. It would require you to carry the government's message rather than the government supplying the message.

QUESTION: Well, this statute requires you to make the government's message four times a year.

MR. OLSON: It only -- it doesn't require you to make the government's message four times a year. The government's message, I respectfully submit, is made when a citizen submits an inquiry to the State through the Internet listing. All -- it is required four times a year is to advise the government of a current location or current information so that the information on the registry is accurate and -- and up-to-date.


So, who is carrying the message? It is the RSO when it is on his driver's license or license plate. That distinction, following the sentencing where it was not part of the sentence, could very well be construed as further punishment. i.e., a ex post facto violation.

Apparently, there is something in law about, who carries the message, and lawyers know about this. Now to find those lawyers to fight the issue all the way to the U.S. Supreme court. That may be easier said than done.


One more thing must be addressed, in the video they mention a case where a RSO had a few boys in his car and was stopped by a police officer. The women in the video claimed, if the driver's license had "Sex Offender" on it, then the police would know who he is dealing with.

My question: Why does it have to be on the license, he stopped the car, why did he stop the car and what was he going to do? Obviously because there were a few boys in the car with a man, I think that is likened to, "Driving while being a man with kids." We all know what is usually in that comment.

The cop checked the guy's license by calling it in, wouldn't it be much easier to have the station returning the call, have check for sex offender as part of their check for warrants?

Here is the real reason behind this, it is a sound bite which gets votes, the fact that it will cost the state tons of taxpayer dollars lawmakers care not. Secondly, it is another way to restrict RSOs and get convictions for not following the letter of the law, which would likely have some time element involved as well.

Now, how does what is on a license or license plate, protect kids? It doesn't, kids are not involved with licenses or license plates, and the crap about if a RSO went near a school someone would know, is plain baloney. There has not been one crime reported to have been comitted by a RSO who lived within a proscribed distance from a school, committed at said school, not one.

The focus is not kids, that is a pretext, the focus is further restrictions to circumvent constitutional protections, and sound bites to get votes for lawmakers.

eAdvocate

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