98% of persons required to register as sex offenders found to be compliant!
That’s what the title to the article could have read, instead it says, “Sex offender compliance check conducted, 18 arrests made”.
The title sounds awful, but if you read the article it tells something different. “The LVMPD’s Sex Offender Apprehension Team, in conjunction with the United States Marshals Service Sex Offender Predator Apprehension Team and Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force, reached out to over 620 registered sex offenders”
in context 18 out of 620 is a drop in the bucket. especially when 15 of the 18 were arrested for technical registration violations and not new sex offenses. Technical violations that are not new crimes for anyone other than someone on the registry. So in reality… 99.5% of persons required to register didn’t re offend!!!
Somehow that’s a totally different story.
Discover more from Florida Action Committee (FAC)
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I also noticed that the article related to Ron Book doesn’t have a comment section and seems to be removed from FAC site, but I did find this old article with several criminal offenses committed by him.
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/miami-lobbyist-ron-book-arrested-for-alleged-dui-11096630
Apparently they want him badly to put away if given the chance.
They never care how many are compliant, it’s always about arrests and conviction rates. It’s what keeps the justice system and law enforcement in funds.
This is just another example of our low American journalistic standards. In the old days, the newspaper mantra was that “if it bleeds, it leads.” Today that has morphed into “if it sizzles, it sells.” If a story like this one doesn’t inherently sizzle, a hot headline is invented to garner eyeballs to the ads.
As an aside, I recently saw an article about the US Marshal Service complaining they were understaffed by about 1400 marshals, and that they couldn’t adequately provide protection to federal judges. Perhaps if they didn’t participate in these unproductive, but high profile, SO sweeps that number could be reduced. I’m just sayin’.
Veritas.
Here is the original article. I recommend we all post comments!
https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/18-arrests-made-during-sex-offender-verification-operation-in-las-vegas-valley/
I use their contact us button to send them this message:
“Your recent article on LVPD’s Sex Offender residence verifications failed to make it clear that, of 620 registrants contacted, only 3 (that is, less than 0.5%) were arrested on warrants related to sex crimes. The other individuals were arrested for “FTR”s (“failure to register” offenses) – which apply to no one else previously convicted of any other crimes – except those who have been convicted of sexual offenses. Sex offense registries fail to protect the public and are increasingly being ruled on constitutional by judges. Stop supporting the myth!”
I did likewise, David. My comments follow.
Saturday must have been a slow news day in Las Vegas. Martha Cruz reported a story with the headline, “Sex Offender compliance checks conducted, 18 arrests made.” Misdirected headlines such as this perpetuate the myth that persons on the sex offense registry represent some heightened danger to society. The opposite is true. Those formerly convicted of a sex offense re-offend at a much lower rate than persons in any other genre of crime – except for murder.
This assertion is even indicated in your article. Of the 620 persons contacted, 18 arrests were made. Of those 15 were arrested for some technical violation of registration requirements, not for another sex offense nor even another crime. The remaining 3 had outstanding warrants, which could have been served by two officers. I won’t insult you by doing the arithmetic for you. However it is obvious that this huge waste of police time and money resulted in few arrests, and did nothing to contribute to public safety.
I suspect you won’t have the journalistic courage to report on the true implications of sex offense registries. The real newsworthy event of the last two weeks was the new Model Penal Code (MPC) approved by the American Law Institute with recommendations for these registries. The old media mantra was “if it bleeds, it leads.” That has morphed into “if it sizzles, it sells.” There is little sizzle but much truth in the new MPC.
Vertitas.
Exactly how we should be speaking in court and in the news.
The media only cares about selling what they deem to be news. There are no fact checkers. There is no truth. And Oprah questioned Megan Markle: “What is YOUR truth?” And as Lester Holt said publicly, “The facts don’t matter.” That’s why we have to win in the real courts. Not the courts of public opinion.