Polk Sheriff Grady Judd expands focus on sex offenders to non-sex-offenders.

We warned that it could happen. If authorities are allowed to probe into the lives of sex offenders without restriction under the theory that it’s being done “to protect the children”, the scope would soon be broadened to allow the microscope to be shoved into the asses of non-registrants too.

Case in point; Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd (“King of the Sting”) and U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross have just proposed HR 2618, the Protecting Our Children Act, in Congress last week.

The act will allow private employers to require polygraphs of prospective employees. Previously, the practice of administering polygraphs had been illegal because they are notoriously inaccurate, but if Sheriff Judd has his way, that will change.

Now nobody is opposing tools that will help make children safer and even FAC supports this measure if it’s administered properly. However, there are several problems with the bill.

First, it doesn’t set any uniform line of questioning. As currently written, employers can ask whatever they like.

Second, there is no defined jobs that could be subject to polygraphs. Theme parks, movie theaters, restaurants. It’s all pretty open right now. It might be a good idea for Chuck E. Cheese but what about McDonalds? Where is the line drawn?

Third, consider the source. Sheriff Grady Judd is the same guy who was notoriously featured as using “liberal methods” (using that as a polite word for ‘entrapment’) in his sex offender sting and who commented after being asked why it was necessary to shoot a murder suspect 68 times; “that’s all the bullets we had”. If a loose cannon like this guy is spearheading the project we need to be careful.

I know, as citizens and parents, we want to be as vigilant as possible and adopt an “if it saves one child” mentality, but we can’t live our lives in paranoia or rely on flawed and ineffective methods, like polygraphs and the registry, to provide a peace of mind that’s actually a false sense of security.

Remember; Adam Walsh was abducted from Sears, Cherish Perrywinkle from Walmart and both Jessica Lunsford and Megan Kanka from their homes. Not Disney World! Think also about the former police officers who are sex offenders. Surely they had background checks and polygraphs.

No matter what we do, bad things will inevitably happen. No matter what measures we take there’s no substitute for good parenting and supervision.