CORONAVIRUS AND REGISTRATION
The purpose of this post is to serve as an advisory for those who are trying to comply with registration obligations during this period. On March 12, 2020, anticipating certain counties would close courthouses, jails and administrative offices where registration is performed, the Florida Action Committee contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to determine what procedures have been implemented to accommodate registration in counties where offices are closed.
While we wait for a reply, check the comments below to see if information about your county has been posted. If not, please call your county registration office to find out whether they are open, whether they anticipate closing, whether they are taking precautions to implement social distancing during this period and what accommodations have been made for registration should their office be closed or closing.
A list of all county registration offices, along with their telephone numbers are published here: https://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/Documents/REREGISTRATIONLOCATIONS.pdf
For any questions, call the FDLE at: 1-888-357-7332 or e-mail sexpred@fdle.state.fl.us.
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ORANGE COUNTY, FL: I re-registered today. The sheriff’s office at West Colonial and John Young Pkwy is allowing two registrants at a time into the standard/traditional registration room inside the lobby on the west side of the sheriff’s office. Everyone else must wait outdoors in the line marked for registrants. It’s up to you to know when a fellow registrant has finished registering and is exiting the building. Look for the registration receipt in his/her hand, I guess. Then, the head of the outdoors line can enter the lobby, and then the registration room. I got a receipt for my appearance – the receipt uses less paper than before – they’ve streamlined the data on the report. They required me to place my right index finger on a pad. They also made me sign (without showing what I was signing for) a signature pad. I will compare the verbiage on my receipt to that of previous receipts to see if they are adding rules, etc. to the registration receipt that I signed.
You should always ask for a complete form and don’t blindly sign stuff.
It would be much easier to follow that advice if I were able to see a printed document and then sign at the bottom of that paper document. However, I’d have to ask the cop to print out the document that I’m asked to agree to, and then trust that he’s showing me the right one, since apparently, the only way to sign is by signing the electronic pad outside the window. I think the cop would just tell me to F off anyway. I wonder what would happen if I just simply refused to sign anything. I don’t know of any law that requires it, but I’d be nervous.
You have the option to not sign, literally.