22 arrested in Fort Lauderdale crackdown on sex offenders
Some sex offenders have been living illegally in off-limit areas of Fort Lauderdale. But Operation Here Not There has swept up 22 suspects in six weeks, authorities said Tuesday.
The city prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,400 feet of a school, school bus stop or park.
The arrests were announced by Fort Lauderdale Police, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Some suspects were found in nearby cities like Lauderhill, Pompano Beach and Oakland Park, and two were found in New York and Colorado.
Both out-of-state suspects face federal charges for crossing state lines without notifying authorities.
Data from the Florida Council on Homelessness shows that in 2011 Broward County had 103 transient sex offenders.
In 2017, the number jumped to nearly 400 in Broward County, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.
In 2014, the Florida legislature created a law focused on transient sex offenders or offenders who are homeless or don’t have a permanent address. It requires them to register with the local sheriff’s office to register their address, whether it be an intersection or some other area, every 30 days. Those who don’t face a third-degree felony.
U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Barry Golden wants other agencies across the state to take note of what Fort Lauderdale Police are doing in their crackdown of transient sex offenders.
“I’ve been to other parts of Florida,” he said. “These detectives are doing something that I don’t know of any sheriff’s department or police department that are doing this in the state of Florida. They are getting out ahead of this.”
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler said he’s glad to hear that no one else was victimized by the suspected transient sex offenders before detectives tracked them down.
“Everyone is so quick to criticize law enforcement, but when you see three law enforcement agencies working this well together, resulting in a safer community, it needs to be recognized. It needs to be commended,” Seiler said.
The operation might be over but Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Rick Maglione said the arrests are expected to continue.
U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Florida Amos Rojas Jr. said it’s dangerous to have transient sex offenders not register their address.
He adds that the information is crucial for both law enforcement and citizens who want to go on the FDLE website to see whether any sex offenders live in their community.
“I’m extremely happy that we were able to partner with FDLE and Fort Lauderdale to make the streets a little bit safer,” Rojas said.
So, lets get this straight. 2011, 103 transient offenders. 2017 the number jumps to nearly 400… in that 6 year period, no one had been accosted.
Three agencies got together, rounded up a bunch of people, logged a whole lot of man hours and clogged the court system a little more. I ask this, ” what did this cost the tax payers?” and, “what was truly gained from this?”
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT THE MONEY!
More importantly it is about the “value” that sex offenders are to the political machine as a source of fear mongering not unlike the “war on drugs” and the “war on terror” – we are used as a valuable political tool to manipulate and control the population with FEAR.
This registry has NEVER been about protecting kids or anyone at all. It is used to 1) declare and dictate moral behaviours with the harsh and ever harsher punishments for those caught breaking these moral taboos. 2) to create an “unwinnable” war that appears to be real but is not. How is this done? By lumping so many “crimes” into a broad category and then labelling ALL those caught up in the trap as Sex Offenders. A meaningless term synonymous in the general public’s mind with a child molestor even when the vast majority of those with the label did NOT do that and in fact, in most cases they are are guilty of totally victimless crimes!
This is nothing more than an easy way for the state to violate sex offenders who cannot find a place to live even if they could find a job! THIS harassing the homeless sex offenders (made that way by the state) adds new “violations” raising the reoffense rate artificially to make it appear that these added punishments are needed! Bullshit on a mind blowing level that only politicians could possible come up with! A self sustainable neverending and unwinnable (by design) “war” that works just like those on drugs and terror to manipulate the general voting public with fear!
Only from the twisted mind of a politician can come such utter logic defying crap!
I agree totally! Well said! I hope and pray that things begin to change. How much longer can this go on?
Depends on the county in Florida. My county doesn’t care about permanent residence or even having a address as long as you show up in your reporting requirements. When I rereg I regularly sit next to homeless folks living in the woods illegally. When you are considered by society a monster that can never be rehabilitated, nobody cares where you live or where you die. @JEV1A
What county do you live in
F-U Florida and there laws. I can’t believe there more worried about sex offenders over murderers and drug rings!!
The can do so because they have turned it into a propaganda war with such bullshit slogans as “if it save one child” and “leave no child behind” which are designed to resonate emotionally with parents on a subconscious level.
Humans are animals with an innate need to reproduce and protect the young of the species. We are labelled and marketed as a threat to children!
Nevermind that the vast majority on the registry did nothing to a child and never will and not because they are on a government list! Keep the bogeyman out there in Jane and Joe Public’s mind…the protective mode is automatic and strong. This is manipulated by politicians to their advantage over and over again. Not based on facts of any kind but rather on junk science and in most cases absolute total lies!
Politicians do not have a problem lying and in fact, without it they are powerless.
The fact that there are hundreds of homeless registrants in Broward would indicate to me that the operation should have been called “Operation Neither Here, There or Anywhere.”
Your tax dollars at work. Glad to hear that they have a sufficient number of US Marshalls that they can assign some to roust homeless people.
This whole article just makes me sick.
I agree – turns my stomach!