Member Submission: Address Verification in Tallahassee
Hello. Just to let fellow people required to register know: my local city police showed up for my verification. I am no longer on Probation. I register through my county sheriff not the city. They asked me questions not asked during the regular registration (Do I have an internet service provider? Who is my closest living relative and what is their phone number? Do I have any minor children or grandchildren? What are their names and ages? How often do they come here? ).
I at first told the officer I wouldn’t answer them without asking my attorney. He said he’d be in his car for a bit if I wanted to contact the lawyer. i luckily got a hold of him and he told me to answer the questions cause he didn’t think they were anything that threatened me. The cop returned and I answered. He then told me that his lieutenant told him that if I didn’t answer they would contact SVU and would arrest me.
It’s so hard to know what to do. I feel confident in following my lawyer’s advice, but I would like to know if the cop is just threatening me without justification. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.
J
Go to Florida code 943.0435.
Print out two copies.
One for you, one for them when they visit.
Read it. Understand it.
Know your rights.
Be respectful, but don’t give them anything you are not required to.
Watch Never talk to the police on YouTube and take that to heart. Even if a question seems harmless it may come back to bite you. Besides when one is getting ready for bed it’s best that it belongs to you and not government.
I have dealt with overzealous officers several times in Orange County. I feel angry and fearful every time I am confronted by the police.. probably the same as most people in this situation. I am angry that I have to go through this dehumanizing process several times per year. I am fearful that I will be arrested for a minor detail or a requirement that I was not aware of. I try to maintain a balance by standing up for my rights while still being respectful to the officer.
I have experienced questioning during address verification. The officer usually starts fishing by asking if there is any information he can update for me, as if he is doing me a favor. I know that he is looking for a reason to arrest me because that’s his job. I say thank you, but I handle my information updates in person at the sheriff’s office as the law requires. If he asks about my email addresses or internet identifiers I say that I update that information through the FDLE website. The registration law says that the information must be updated in person (or through the website for a few items). I use that to my advantage.
I am not on probation so I don’t have to submit to searches without a warrant; that includes collection of DNA. I once had an officer show up to take a sample, because “the FDLE sent him”. He was the same officer that had done my address verifications before. He was wearing gloves and holding a swab when I answered the door. I politely asked him what law requires it since I am not on probation. He said if I don’t give a sample now, he will have to inform his commander and come back with a warrant. I said that sounds fair to me, come back with a warrant and I will be happy to comply. I kept my cool even though I felt angry and violated. He never came back for the sample.
A few times I felt that the officer went beyond what the law requires, by demanding information not required by law and threatening me outright or in an indirect. In those cases I try to reason with the officer by saying that I don’t believe the information is required by law, and if he can show me where it is required then I will be happy to comply.
There were times that I called the Sheriff’s office and asked for a supervisor so I can complain about an officer’s behavior or demeanor. It typically takes a few days to get a call back. When speaking to the supervisor I am respectful and stick to the facts so it doesn’t seem that I have a personal problem with the officer. That has mostly worked out, where the problem was addressed with the specific officer and it didn’t happen again.
ABC
As a former law enforcement officer, thank you for standing up to the bullies. There are three kinds of registered people. Thos who just do anything the cops say, those who refuse any rules on them and cuss officers out, and those who comply to a point, are pleasant but know their rights.
God only knows what could have happened with that DNA sample. They could have said they lifted it off of a pair of panties or underwear and it matched, tying you to a crime you didn’t commit just to get you back in jail. This crap has gone far enough.
Until a judge puts an end to this madness, law enforcement seems to have carte blanche to impose whatever they want on us. The Officer who comes to my place has always been cool and downlow. Last time he came by he was a jerk and was using a loud voice so everyone could here “MAKE SURE YOU ARE UP TO DATE ON YOUR REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS!”
He is due back this month and since the majority of the people on my street are out of work, everybody is home making it much harder to get it done with, without incident. Add to that the post my neighbor tells me about they are saying about me on Nextdoor, it is a wonder I have not been lynched.
CherokeeJack
How is shunning you for a crime you committed 20 plus years ago making the neighborhood safe? How many of your judgmental neighbors are committing sex or other crimes right now. Easy to point the finger at others, when one should look in the mirror. I rather deal with Jeff Dunham’s dummy Bubba J.
Brandon
Mine was 31 years ago. There wasn’t even a registry when I was arrested, charges nor during sentencing. Even went back on an appeal and there was no registry.
CherokeeJ
I can only image what you have had to go through over the DECADES!
-they SWUNG a Pendulum years and years at YOU, AFTER THE FACT!–scumbags!
Thanks CherokeeJ for all You do!
Peace Out!
Truth
What sucks so badly is, I asked for a lawyer not once, not twice, but three times. I was told if I asked for a lawyer, I would be all over the news. So I spilled my guts and even confessed to killing Jimmy Hoffa (Being dramatic).
Anyway, I was ok with doing time as I did do SOME things but not all they charged me with.
I did my time, got out on good behavior. The registry hit just before I was to be released and I was retroactively put on it. Been on it since 1997. My Charge from 1991. Anyone arrested now can do a plea and say “I ain’t going on no damn registry” and the prosecutor will say “You don’t have a choice but if you don’t go to trial, we can work a deal.
Well I and many others never got a chance to do that, we had already plead. They told me tough crap. So I cannot go back in time and change something but they can? WOW just freaking Wow how do the judges sleep at night? (Pretty comfortably I am told)
Since cities are corporations, I think some of them tend to act more like big companies by covering their asses against lawsuits from their shareholders (residents, that is) who might claim that their kids were being groomed by a PFR in the neighborhood, or something like that – and that the city wasn’t doing enough to discourage PFR’s. They might also want to encourage arrests for lame, easy prosecutions to benefit bored lawyers, bondsmen, prosecutors, etc. who don’t have many cases to deal with.
I recommend everyone watch the movies: “The Report” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” After which you’ll get a stark and disturbing realization of familiarity on subjugation. The tactics employed by the interrogators in those movies are shocking similar:
Debility – The feeling of waking up with a boot on your throat every morning.
Dependency – The omnipresent stress of being required to relay information that is current, complete and accurate because of the “compliance or prison” schema.
Dread – The constant fear of being arrested and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Walking on egg-shells in perpetuity.
Compliance > Control > Learned Helplessness.
So, when they start asking impertinent questions, don’t be their useful idiot! They are constantly testing the waters to see what they can get away with!