Hillsborough County deputies to visit more than 1200 sex offenders ahead of Halloween
The sheriff said deputies are determined to contact each sex offender before Monday, even if it means returning to the home more than once if no one answers the door.
They tell us to not answer the door!
Just saying
Ironic. I know you mean don’t answer it for children but your supposed to know who is at the door? I have been in the back of the house many times when the deputy knocked on my door and didn’t hear the doorbell or knock.
I always ask them to call me because I might just be in the back of the house but they say they cannot call me. I even suggested blocking their number so I wouldn’t have their cell phone # but that was also a no go.
My thoughts are NO matter how good of an idea is, even if it helps them IE, call me to make it easier to find me, if it isn’t their idea, it won’t happen. I guess all registrants immediately become morons once they first register and we lose all ability to come up with rational ideas. Some of us actually have college degrees.
I’m done with Florida. Moving back north. House for sale . I would love to sell to a group of registered citizens who need housing.
I moved out of Florida in 2005 and have not returned since. I do not plan on returning – with the exception of petitioning the court for removal but that’s a long shot at this time.
Point is that life improved 100% after leaving. I moved to California where I registered but have since petitioned to be removed from the California registry which was successful.
Now if the scamming Florida government will removed those who live out of state I would be totally free from Florida’s claws!
Get out of Florida if you can and you to will see a vast improvement.
Lee
Glad you got off the Cali registry. Odd though because I had left Florida and moved to Cali for 4 days but returned to Florida when I learned Cali was as bad if not worse than Florida. That was of course around 2003 so some things may have changed in both places.
Also as you said, I did not realize when I moved there that Florida would not remove me so I moved back where I had family. Seems it is very hard to move on from your past, even though many of us have completed our obligations 10, 20 even 30 years ago.
Meanwhile burglaries, murders, violent assaults, kidnappings, auto theft, mass shootings, arsons, etc etc are happening. Imagine if law enforcement put this much effort into actually protecting citizens. I wonder if they’ll report on how many SOs they “caught” participating in Halloween………
If they have all these cops with nothing worthwhile to do there is always a need to pick up trash along the hi ways.
Another Sheriff looking for the limelight. When will they learn how much 1200 home check ins costs the county and how little it does for anyone? He was so happy to say they do this every year. Any idea how we find out what that costs?
Freedom of Information Act requests
If you’re not on house arrest: You have no obligation to answer the door. You have no obligation to be home. On Halloween, I ALWAYS make sure I’m with someone I trust, not at home and I’m someplace crowded, with lots of cameras, and at least one person (such as a store clerk, server, bartender, etc…), will remember me specifically by conversation and face.
Ben
Where I live, if you are not home when a deputy comes by, they hang a compliance flyer on your front door that can be seen from the Moon. I hang on to all of them and will be showing them to the judge to decide if that is compelled speech.
I agree. Every Halloween my wife and I spend a few minutes with one of the grands and then go out to eat, see a movie and don’t return home until after 10. When I had my dog, I was always worried that I would come home to find him hurt or the house damaged by some vigilante, thankfully it never happened. This year in Jax they have advertised they JSO will not be doing home checks, but I have not received any written indications the local “No Candy Sign” ordinance is on hold. I will therefore be putting up my sign as always. I am a year away from petitioning the Courts to be released. I am not going to give them any reason to issue any violations…
Big AL
If I remember correctly, that suit is filed under the Compelled speech clause? Forcing someone to make a statement against their will that causing them harm to their character?
And a shame as well that our family members would have to move out to end the fall our punishment to them due to our restrictions that are probation like but somehow, non-punitive. Woe to those who speak with a forked tongue.
Although I do not have to put out the signs, if I am not home when they come, they hang a banner on our door that can be read from 100 feet away stating I was not home during a SEX OFFENDER compliance check.
I have asked them to call me if they want me home and I will come check in at my house, but that is not allowed, has to be random. In other words, I am NOT free to travel or leave the house with threat of giant signs advertising a sex offender lives there. Not that the registry and nextdoor haven’t done enough damage.
What a waste of time and resources.
You’d think there is an election coming up or something. tongue in cheek
Did FOX 13 try to obtain a quote from even ONE of the 1,200 registrants targeted, or is the whole report just, ‘ther sheriff’s office says…’
Pretty blatantly one-sided in favor of their regular source.
Pure Public Stunt and False Security. Glad I am In Pinellas and can give out Candy or Decorate!
Do these “public servants” think they are actually doing something worthwhile and positive?
At least there is no sign requirement in this county.
Hi Janice!
Unfortunately, Nassau County, FL STILL puts predator signs up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_wg7Vql4Mk
JZ, This will be the next to get sued.
‘ABC4 News asked multiple police agencies in Utah how often they see registered sex offenders creating problems on Halloween…Police said they do not get reports of this happening often but said it’s very likely to be underreported.’
Even if you’re not re-offending, you’re presumed to be re-offending:
https://www.abc4.com/news/trick-or-retreat-why-doesnt-utah-have-sex-offender-laws-for-halloween/amp/
Another news report that fails to interview any of the subjects of their report.
An RSO that really WANTs to hand out candy will be doing so at their friend’s home. Hillsboro police can start asking IDs for everyone who is handing out candy! But then again, the RSO won’t answer the door for police. Perhaps the police can hire little people to dress up and knock at the doors of RSOs and ask for IDs. But then again, why would anyone show an ID to a little person claiming to be a deputy when there may be children dressed up as deputies. This all sure is confusing. While the deputies are busy knocking on doors, the RSOs might be directing traffic to keep the children safe from being hit by a car, a task police are too busy to do. Halloween has an increase in children struck by cars yet there is not an increase in sex-crimes against children.
Roger L
So since the entire department is out in force doing a candy patrol compliance check, how many “Real” felonies will be happening and 911 calls being ignored because they are “under staffed”?
” Hey Joe, I robbed 4 people and got 90 days in jail, what are you in for”? “Oh I just put a pumpkin on my front porch, seemingly to attract children to my house”.
I got a call from a friend’s wife today . They came to there house for a compliance Chek. He has 18 cars registered and one that was a camper trailer that was not. He’s now in jail for a violation. Not only are they cheking addresses but there also looking for any reason to take people to jail.
Pariah
That is because they know many of us are at the edge of being eligible to be removed from the registry. Just one little “Technical” violation (Hum sounds like probation) can end any chance of ever getting off the registry as you can be arrested for almost anything on the giant list of rules (That are somehow not punitive in nature).
Additionally, I am seeing people on here state they got more time for a registry technicality than they did on their original charge.
That’s exactly why I am not using my boat currently and stored elsewhere until I can register the trailer as home made and tagged. They told me my boat trailer has to be registered with Volusia county but the boat does not. How ridiculous. I can take my boat all the way to Jacksonville or all the way to Okeechobee and doesn’t need registering like my cars do.
Just tired
Wait until we have to register Bicycles, Skateboards, Roller blades, pogo sticks, hoverboards, wheelchairs and other forms of transportation devices.
Remember, whatever they can get away with, they keep pushing the envelope until the dam breaks and a judge finally steps in. Tying up the courts with garbage that should have never been implemented in the first place.
FAC members will not allow this to happen.
Jacob
I was half being sarcastic but you know as well as I do, if they are given an inch, they take a mile. Local sheriffs do things, such as the Halloween signs, that they thought of themselves. Remember the sheriff in Arizona that made male inmates wear pink jump suits.
There was an article a while back about having all registrants wear ankle monitors for life. Before anyone scoffs at that, anything is possible these days. I know we are America, but in Iran they just executed a woman just because she refused to follow Sharia law.
Here if you break a church rule, you can be reprimanded, corrected or asked to leave if you do not change your behavior. But 99.9% of the time you are not going to be killed unless it is that .1% cult.
Having said that, the registry is VERY similar to Iran’s law. Break a simple rule and pay for it in punishment that does not fit the infraction. IE life in prison for failure to register. Meanwhile a murder can get out in 10 years.
They did this last year too.
More ‘political grooming’ of the people
I’ve been on probation for 6 years I think i know not to decorate , give candy out , go to no party’s , dont look out my door , window or crack in the wall Don’t leave my house for no reason . I’ve given my family instructions if I should die don’t move my body out of my house till November 2 just to be safe so they don’t arrest me !!! Such a waste of money, time and resources. They came to my house 4 deep just to “check” on me to make sure I know the rules. Funny on TV they show 2 deputys and make it look unobtrusive. reality is nothing like what they show or say
There is no law in the books you have to turn porch lights off or close blinds…. Wow but this is what the Sheriff was stating… And you would be arrested… HCSO
I can’t believe these people are being paid by taxpayers to do this kind of bullshit “work”! Has NO ONE in law enforcement heard that now-retired Justice Kennedy’s legal gaffe has been de-bunked by more recent research, And that the law’s built-in assumption that former sex offenders are all raging recidivists who can’t help themselves is on a par with believing in Vampires? Legislators are for the most part self-interested thieves that will vote for anything the public believes in, whether it’s nuts or not.
Is this a Hillsborough County restriction? How do they force people not on probation to not participate? What if their wife or other family member participates? Or are their constitutional rights nullified if they love someone on the registry?
When I was on probation this was a thing, but not since.
Wow yes was a thing on probation but not since. Of course this is in hernando county.
I would answer the door and politely and with all the respect 🫡 they deserve tell them to “Go F yourself and have a nice day!”
Lee C
And if off probation, we are not required to be home so how many times will they come to their doors if they are visiting a family member (For less than 3 days/no more than 3 days)
Are we prisoners in our own homes now? Better be home when the big, bad wolf knocks on your door. Sounds very similar to………….probation requirements. But hey, whose keeping track?
What if we take a 2 month road trip never staying in the same place more than 3 days in a row? Do we have to notify the sheriffs department or the FDLE we are gone FAC? I’m never home because I’m retired and always on road trips.
Brian
I am not the person to ask about that. I am petrified to go anywhere other than a day trip. I have seen people on here say they stayed in a hotel for one day and got arrested for not registering a trip. Even if the charges were dropped, technically an arrest still shows on your record making you ineligible for removal. It is a game they play. (You know who they is).
Or sarcastically say: “Congratulations! You just prevented nothing!” – That’s exactly what I tell them every time they take a new photo of me at the local pig station.
They always make a blanket statement to put fear in people. Is this a requirement just for Hillsborough for ALL RSOs? I know over the years I have had friends call me to make sure I didn’t participate and I would tell them I am off probation and that didnt affect me. But the news makes that blanket statement or cut the video out that states who it pertains to in the community, I used to sit out in my front yard to hand out candy just to piss people off. We got to know the law and our rights.
Not punishment
Not probation
Not punitive
Not harassment
As long as the courts keep saying just about anything is ok and nothing is off the table, we will continue to have an invasion of our privacy and sanity. When will a judge stop being political and uphold the constitution of a right to live in peace without invasion of our privacy?
On a side note, I would like to see the “Massive” list of offenders who have kidnapped children on Halloween. The list must be 100s of pages long right?
Everyone who allows this kind of “compliance/harassment checks” is contributing to allowing this problem to continue. The only people who should ever allow it, year round, are people who are on probation or parole and must allow it. No one else ever should.
Registries are unacceptable. It is way past time to stop putting up with the dumb “people” who think they should exist. Amerika has never been a free country. We should work to change that and kick out people who love big government and don’t want a free country. Let’s get some good immigrants to replace them.
Let’s resist the temptation to frighten those Members who are on parole or probation. Even they have rights.
Must you remain home, open the door, and consent to a Halloween search? Check your paperwork, and consult with your Probation Officer.
Probation says no. But it does also depend on what the judge orders. If not participating in Halloween is in a judgment and sentence or the transcripts from sentencing, then the pos have to follow that. But if there is no such order, then the usually recommend we stay at home and not answer the door. I choose to exercise what limited freedom I have and go to my local casino where there are plenty of cameras watching (and protecting) me.
Halloween hater
That is a good idea, and you might even win the jackpot. I use to go to the Seminole Casino in Tampa, that is until they went all digital on the slot machines and took away the use of and payout of quarters. That was the entire idea and fun of the game, hearing those quarters drop. They lost me as a customer after that.
The most I ever won back in the day was $100.00 off of one quarter. These days I do not work so wouldn’t be able to even afford the gas to the casino. I think they did away with the free buffet as well. Yeah been a long time since I went. I also use to do the casino boat day trip over on the east coast.
Here is what I sent to the Hillsborough County Sheriff:
Dear Sheriff Chronister:
Thank you for your continued service to Hillborough County and to the State of Florida!
In order to combat child sexual abuse, we must use effective strategies, and we must be careful not to waste thin resources!
*** Here is a statement from The Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse – an international, multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to making society safer by preventing sexual abuse. (It can be found here: https://www.atsa.com/policy/ATSAHalloween2019.pdf)
A s s o c i a t i o n f o r t h e T r e a t m e n t o f S e x u a l A b u s e r s 4900 SW Griffith Drive, Suite 274, Beaverton, Oregon 97005 USA Phone: 503.643.1023 | Fax: 503.643.5084 | atsa@atsa.com | http://www.atsa.com Halloween and sexual abuse prevention:
The mythical “Halloween effect” From the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers
October 1, 2019 As October arrives and families begin preparing for Halloween, it is always a priority to ensure children’s safety during this holiday. It is important to learn the facts and know the risks to your child during this festive time. A heightened risk of being sexually abused is NOT one of the dangers children face at Halloween. The simple fact is that there are no significant increases in sexual crimes on or around Halloween. There is no “Halloween effect.” There is no change in the rate of sexual crimes by non-family members during Halloween. That was true both before and after communities enacted laws to restrict the activities of registrants during Halloween. The crimes that do increase around Halloween are vandalism and property destruction, as well as theft, assault, and burglary. In addition, according to the Centers for Disease Control, children are four times more likely to be killed by a pedestrian/motor-vehicle accident on Halloween than on any other day of the year. Fully 93% of sexual assaults on children are perpetrated by someone known to, and trusted by, the child and the child’s family. But due to the myths regarding child sexual abuse that focus on “stranger danger,” communities and lawmakers often endorse policies that do little to prevent sexual abuse and instead unnecessarily stretch limited law enforcement resources. Jurisdictions that ban individuals on sex offender registries from participating in any Halloween activities, require registrants to post signs in their yards during Halloween, or round up registrants for the duration of trick-or-treating do not make children safer. Instead, these approaches create a false sense of safety while using law enforcement resources that could be better spent protecting children against the higher risk they do face during Halloween – injury or death from motor vehicles. Child sexual abuse is a serious public health issue that faces all communities. Although the prevalence of child sexual abuse can be difficult to determine due to under-reporting, researchers estimate that one in four girls and one in six boys will be victims of sexual abuse before age 18. For concerned parents, the best way to protect children from sexual abuse is to know the facts about sexual offending and take precautions based on facts, not fears. Parents can visit http://www.atsa.com to learn more about sexual abuse and prevention.
*** Here also is the abstract from a research study published by the National Institutes of Health: (It can be found here https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19581428/)
Abstract
States, municipalities, and parole departments have adopted policies banning known sex offenders from Halloween activities, based on the worry that there is unusual risk on these days. The existence of this risk has not been empirically established. National Incident-Base Reporting System crime report data from 1997 through 2005 were used to examine daily population adjusted rates from 67,045 nonfamilial sex crimes against children aged 12 years and less. Halloween rates were compared with expectations based on time, seasonality, and weekday periodicity. Rates did not differ from expectation, no increased rate on or just before Halloween was found, and Halloween incidents did not evidence unusual case characteristics. Findings were invariant across years, both prior to and after these policies became popular. These findings raise questions about the wisdom of diverting law enforcement resources to attend to a problem that does not appear to exist.
We must use scarce resources wisely – not on an urban myth or an isolated incident.
Sir, thank you for reviewing this vital information.
Very Respectfully Yours,
DON’T ANSWER THE DOOR UNLESS YOUR ON PROBATION/PAROLE!
Waste there resources, i never answer unless i know who is on the other side and if its the police they can keep on n
knocking till there knuckles bleed
TO: Hard Reality
When I was still on probation, One Halloween I got a knock at my door. There was the County Sheriff’s office, City Police, an FDLE Agent AND the Probation officer. Since I was on probation, they did not need a warrant.
A neighbor had called in a tip that I had a kidnapped kid in my house. They tore my house apart from floor to ceiling. After finding nothing, they did not offer to pay for the damages and as they left, one of the officers yelled ” WE are watching you”.
As soon as I was off of probation, I got the Heck out of that city and county.
FAC,
This seems nothing more than harassment and abuse of power against those not on probation. Since when is a verbal warning from law enforcement legal? I can find no written law or ordinance which allows this type of charade. Is this something FAC will be looking into?
It’s a bit late for this year, but if we can get more volunteers on board we will try for next. We’ve had a lot of correspondence going out lately.
FAC
Here’s to hoping there won’t have to be a next year and that soon this will all be ruled punishment. (The registry)
Like I have always said, the more they get away with, the more they get away with next time. Pushing the envelope on steroids.
Funny how some Sheriff’s do not focus too much on registrants if they are compliant and instead focus on crime. Then other sheriff’s grandstand and make those on the registry a huge part of their focus, and probably their budget.
Some of the larger Sheriff’s offices in Florida have an entire staff of full time deputies who do nothing but registry compliance. Meanwhile 911 calls for urgent help are being delayed due to short staff. Since all of us pay taxes, we are paying for deputies to come and harass us.
If the public knew the reason they cannot get an officer to their house in a reasonable amount of time because they are short staffed, but fully staffed on registry checks, maybe, just maybe there would be some outrage? (Ok probably not but it is a thought).
Do we have any numbers on how much funding departments get for registry compliance? That would be an eye opener and should be public record.
Seems they have nothing better to do? It always seems to me they have way too many police officers all over the place. I see them meeting on the side of the road to chat, I see 3 x mir cars and cops at a scene of an accident or another incident just standing around as even more are coming around the corner to join, I see them lined up every half a mile to look for speeders…
And why going from die to door and knocking? You can drive by and see if there is decoration. Next , will they check the house for hidden candy??
It’s all about harassment and it seems obvious they have to many officers that they can afford to do that.