Member Submission: Lake City
How is it that sex offenders that have lived in a motel for over a year that have been approved by the registering detective have to move out because the detective left and a new one comes and takes over? It is not right for them to become homeless because one detective leaves and another replaced them. We live in Lake City Florida and I have been manager of a small motel trying desperately hard to give them a second chance with a place to call home only to be told they have to leave. They served their time, they have jobs and just need a place to stay where they have been for over a year and don’t bother anyone. Please help
Have we been in contact with this proprietor or ascertained any more about the situation and what the authorities are expecting to be done?
True Confessions
What law enforcement demands is to know where we are and what we are doing. Most Florida registration statutes state we must have a verifiable address. A homeless Registrant automatically becomes non-compliant until their new address is registered within 24 hours to the Sherriff of said County.
I applaud this Motel owner for giving a so called second chance. Lake County Chief needs to be called out here in these actions of his fellow deputies.
I keep and continue to keep preaching about a paranoid society that has been told over and over, we are monsters no matter what the facts of our cases are.
All over Florida Registrants are being made homeless because of Sex Offender Laws made to protect the public but are working in reverse.
JEV-True Confessions
Jev
The highest rank in the Sheriff’s office is the Sheriff. While Sheriff’s Deputies are sworn in and hired, the Sheriff has to be elected by the people. This is contrary to Police Departments which are headed by a Chief. However, in PD’s, that highest rank is hired just like the lowest ranking officer.
Supposedly the people get a say in who will be Sheriff but zero say in who becomes a police chief. Being tough of sex offenders is something most citizens want and praise. So if we were all sent off to an island, there would be little to no push back from the population.
When I worked in law enforcement, I saw firsthand the horrors some officers got away with, and the cover ups that followed. Some of the cover ups were just turning a blind eye and others were active law breaking by making evidence disappear.
I tried to be neutral but eventually had to take sides and since I was not party to authorized criminal behavior, I finally had to resign to get away from the horrors, abuses, lies, cover ups, and lives ruined, in the department and the public.
I was once asked by a professor to write a book on my experiences but I declined. The power some of those people still have to this day, to make bad things happen, is scary beyond description. They do not just go after you, they also go after those who you love and care about. Funny in a way as the registry does about the same thing now that I think about it. And who runs the registries? Yeah, law enforement.
Lake city not lake county…. It’s Columbia county.
The officer can not do that. Please give me a call or email me. Thank you
Check the statutes and county ordinances. If your hotel meets the criteria for registrant residence, make a formal complaint against the officer forcing your tenants out and go from there. You have every right – it affects your living. He (or she) is supposed to be enforcing the law, not his/her personal opinions.
It’s been my experience that complaints against registry enforcement officers from non-registrants carry more weight in the system.
If two officers are left trying to interpret vague laws then this stuff happens. The upside here is that if it’s just an interpretation then I’d get a lawyer and sue. I’d get clarification from the officer’s supervisor as to what is going on and see if they can help.
In any case, keep us updated. This stuff happens all the time simply because lawmakers are allowed to pass whatever ambiguous and sometimes conflicting laws. And leaves things open to interpretation.
Has anyone spoken to the affected registrants about the reasons the new detective gave them for having to move? Whether the reasons are valid or not he still had to give them a reason for having to move.
Before you start making the rounds of all the government offices and officials you have to know details.
I appreciate and respect the motel owners concerns and sense of injustice. As we all know, he’s taking a stand that so very few, if any, folks in the general public take. He’s willing to take a potential hit to his business to stand up for these folks.
If the former detective was careless or simply wasn’t concerned and was wrong and the new person catches the error then the worst thing we could do is to make a lot of noise about it.
We need to make sure of all the facts before storming the castle.