Signs will warn sex offenders to stay off school grounds
Law enforcement officials will soon visit the homes of 760 sex offenders and 85 sexual predators in Marion County as part of a new program aimed at reminding convicted sex offenders that they are forbidden to be on the property of schools and child care facilities.
As part of the program, which is being spearheaded by the Marion County Sheriffâs Office, officials will place 180 warning signs at strategic locations on each of the school districtâs 51 school campuses. The large signs, which will be 3 feet by 3 feet, will include the portion of sex crime statute 856.022(4)(b), which restricts the locations offenders can visit.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods appeared before the School Board on Tuesday to float the sign request. The School Board agreed that the signs should be placed at schools as preventative measure to keep children safe. The sign movement was not triggered by a local incident.
âI was excited to hear about the program,â School Board member Bobby James said. âThis is an excellent idea and thanks for bringing it to us.â
The sign implementation is the brainchild of Chief Deputy Robert Douglas, who was Woodsâ pick for his second-in-command. Douglas was named chief deputy after Woods took office in January.
Douglas worked for the Marion County Sheriffâs Office for 25 years until 2003. Soon after losing to then-incumbent Sheriff Ed Dean in 2004, Douglas served 11 years as chief of police in Chiefland.
Douglas approached Levy County Sheriff Bobby McCallum several years ago about the idea. Both men appeared before the Levy County School Board, which agreed with the plan. Woods heard about the program and asked Douglas to create the same program in Marion. Douglas met with all of the countyâs law enforcement agencies, the State Attorneyâs Office and School Board member Bobby James.
âThey all like the idea and Bobby (James) said to bring it before the School Board,â Douglas said.
The Sheriffâs Office created one sign to show the School Board on Tuesday. Now that the board gave its blessing, more signs will be made and likely be put into place by the beginning of the 2017-18 school year. The school district and the Sheriffâs Office will split the $7,740 estimated cost of the 180 signs. The Public Education Foundation of Marion County, a fundraising arm of the school district, agreed to pay the school districtâs portion, according to board member Beth McCall.
The signs will be placed on school grounds at the following locations: front office entrances, vehicle drop-off and pick-up lines, gymnasium entrances, football stadium entrances and baseball/softball field entrances. The signs will be supplied to the district, which will install them.
Lt. Carlton Curtis, a supervisor in the Sheriffâs Officeâs juvenile division, said all the law enforcement agencies will team together to visit the 845 offenders and predators to give them a copy of the state child sex law. They will ask the offenders to sign a receipt of the document that states they have read and understand the law. Douglas said the offenders will also have to give a thumbprint to authenticate it.
Curtis said all the law enforcement agencies want these sex offenders to understand that they cannot walk onto school grounds, even to sporting events. The idea is that if one of these offenders were caught on school grounds in the future that they cannot use ignorance as a defense.
Florida law states that all people convicted of a sex crime against minors are considered sexual offenders. An upgraded sexual predator designation can be added by the court if the person committed a first-degree felony sex crime, or two second-degree felony sex crimes within 10 years.
Curtis said people convicted of sex crimes can be on their childâs school grounds in limited circumstances, such as in a car in the student drop-off or pick-up line or in the office to sign a child out of school. That same offender would have to provide school officials a written request to attend school functions, such as award ceremonies or other events.
Hey, if your not on probation and done with all aspects of your sentence….tell the cops to Piss Off. You don’t have to put up with them on your property if your sentence is done. Remember that!!!!
Besides that….what does the SO Parent do if they have to take their kid to school????
Need an Attorney or someone that’s familiar with this F.S. I was convicted in 2009 of a computer SO crime, considered the lowest level, nevertheless I am still an SO according to the government. But am I exempt because of the date of my conviction?
(4)(a)âIt is unlawful for a person described in subsection (1) to knowingly approach, contact, or communicate with a child under 18 years of age in any public park building or on real property comprising any public park or playground with the intent to engage in conduct of a sexual nature or to make a communication of any type with any content of a sexual nature. This paragraph applies only to a person described in subsection (1) whose offense was committed on or after May 26, 2010
I may be wrong but don’t some of these statutes apply only to those on paper?
“Brainchild”? What are they talking about? When was the last time that we read of a sex offender going on to school grounds to do anything but take their own children to school? If Marion County paid a bonus for this ‘brainless’ idea, they should get their money back. Are the signs going to include drug dealers, murderers, kidnappers, and for that matter of fact…school teachers…they seem to be committing most of the campus sex offenses nowadays? When are facts going to start having an impact on these ‘public servants’?
Recent research by FDLE proves that these signs are nothing but a waste of tax payer’s money just to make politicians feel good about themselves. It will be so nice when ‘common sense’ returns from vacation and once again finds its appropriate seat in the legislature. Since when has going after a ‘problem’ that has so little impact on society costs so much in money, lives, and families and paid so little in dividends?
They all pad themselves in the back in coming up with ways that can justify or make relevant their insignificant career positions and jobs. I can bet every registered citizen who actually have more brain power than politicians and deputy officers combined know what they should or shouldn’t do when it comes to schools/day cares. A sign is meaningless and will do nothing but create unnecessary fears. Good parenting and a good school administration is all that is needed and that has been around for centuries. The whole look tough on crime thing is old and overly played out already – with no positive results whatsoever. Waiting for the smart on crime and facts/evidence based era.
If politicians stroke themselves any more on this issue in public, they will have to register. Is there a single sex offender out there who isn’t reminded almost daily they aren’t to be within so many (insert arbitrary distance here), of a school, park, or “other places where children may or may not randomly choose to congregate? So how does this program make ANYONE safer AT ALL?
Ben, IMO It is not meant to make anyone safer but to shove the word “SEX OFFENDER” in front of as many people as possible to continue the hysteria! Perhaps they should have a sign reminding parents that there are many teachers, law enforcement, politicians that are not registered as they have not been caught yet!
Someone should put in a public records request to the FDLE and the Florida Department of Education asking for the (a) the number of complaints, arrests and convictions in 2016 committed by a sex offender on school property and (b) (a) the number of complaints, arrests and convictions in 2016 committed by a school employee on school property.
That should be revealing.
Better yet….the past ten years!