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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FAC Legal, what’s the best guidance for a registrant who is rushed to the hospital without knowing how many days they’ll be there? In other words, what are some good do’s and don’ts for purposes of compliance?
If it’s your second day and it looks like you’re not getting out the next day, call your registration office AND the FDLE.
Appreciate the feedback. For in-person registration of temporary and permanent residences, do we know whether they’ve ever just “let it go” regarding a registrant who alerted them that they were being hospitalized? Conversely, do we know whether anyone’s ever been arrested for failing to report in person that they were being hospitalized?
As you have correctly pointed out on multiple occasions, FAC, the statute makes no exceptions for hospitalization or other circumstances. So a phone call stating they may not be able to comply with the law, on the surface, would seem to pose a red flag.
In the meantime, here’s hoping that NO Florida registrants will need to be hospitalized > 3 days for Covid.
The statute specifically states that there must be an intent to establish a residence for out of state travel. It makes no such distinction for in-state travel.
943.0435
(7) A sexual offender who intends to establish a permanent, temporary, or transient residence in
another state or jurisdiction other than the State of Florida shall report in person to the sheriff of the
county of current residence within 48 hours before the date he or she intends to leave this state to
establish residence in another state or jurisdiction or at least 21 days before the date he or she intends
to travel if the intended residence of 5 days or more is outside of the United States.
Any change in the information required to be provided pursuant to paragraph (b), including, but not limited to, any change in the sexual offender’s permanent, temporary, or transient residence; name; electronic mail addresses; Internet identifiers and each Internet identifier’s corresponding website homepage or application software name; home telephone numbers and cellular telephone numbers; employment information; and any change in status at an institution of higher education after the sexual offender reports in person at the sheriff’s office must be reported in the manner provided in subsections (4), (7), and (8).
This statute (in its entirety) is antithetical to the core tenets of our democracy and is repugnant !
JJJJ – there is a distinction. Out of state travel needs to be reported BEFORE and in state change of residence needs to be reported AFTER. Reason being; if you leave the state there is no FL registration office or DHSMV location to report to.
There is a separate law for reporting intended travel (out of state) and not correcting it if you don’t leave.
If you’re awake you can call someone but what if you are immediately placed on a ventilator when you arrive at the hospital? If you have family that lives near you then maybe they would call for you but I wouldn’t count on them to think about that. Also, a lot of people are suffering from hypoxia (lack of oxygen) that gets worse over several days which is causing confusion and loss of short term memory. Even if you’re awake you may not have the whereabouts to call the registration office or FDLE.
My other concern is lets say you do call the registration office and FDLE that you are at the hospital then can they call the hospital to tell them you are there? And if the hospital knows you’re in their ICU will they move you to another hospital solely based on your criminal history, harrass you while you are there, or do the old patient dumping trick and let you die on the street?
JD,
Respectfully, is this an actual scenario or a hypothetical? If you’re placed on a ventilator worry about surviving and fighting a hypothetical case afterwards.
JD brings up another good point— do we know of anybody who’s had obstacles accessing hospital care due to their registration status, perhaps triggered by a notification?
With regard to JD’s first question, I don’t doubt there are those unfortunates who require ventilation upon arrival. I think FAC guidance in such an instance is, worry about survival over registration, if I’m reading correctly.
Seminole County is doing everything via webcams. I had to register a rental car and I also had my 6-month registration within the last 2 weeks. On both occasions, I did a Facetime check-in with them. If you call the number and leave a message, they will get back to you.
They said for people who cannot or don’t have the option for webcams, they have other means to complete the registrations remotely.
Thank you! I hope they get back with him soon because it sure makes a mom nervous
Does anyone have information on Seminole County? My son had an appointment and it’s for this Wednesday afternoon and now when he called in just to verify it says don’t show up but it doesn’t tell any other alternative— does anybody know?
Just looked on Seminole’s web site and it does not even mention the covid virus situation, this is all it says
Sex Offender Registration
If you are required to register as a Sexual Offender or Sexual Predator in the State of Florida, and this is your first time registering in Seminole County, please contact the Sexual Offender Registration Office at 407-665-6725 to make an appointment. If you have questions about what is required, please call 407-665-6725
At your appointment, you will be required to complete a registration form. To help expedite this process, you are welcome to complete the form in advance and bring it with you to your appointment. The form can be found by clicking here .
Florida law and Seminole County ordinances restrict residency and mobility for registered sexual predators and offenders. Restricted locations can be found by clicking here.
EXACT reason I moved away from Seminole county. Awful registration experience. I was one of the first to ever register in that county and left that day in tears. Takes a lot more than a cute puppy to make me cry.
Yeah there’s nothing on Seminole’s website about it When you call the number it says do not show up there’s no one here to help you and to leave your information on a voicemail. That someone will call you back but there’s no way of knowing whether they got the voicemail and you have no proof that you actually called and left your voicemail. And what I’m thinking is I wish I had a way to actually record their phone message saying don’t show up —it sucks
I am on probation and we are told to not go to the office for our monthly check in because of the virus safety concerns. Instead our officer calls us on our scheduled appt. time to see how we are doing, and this is probation which is a punishment and part of our sentence.
Yet, I am still having to drive to the sheriffs office to register twice a year in person. And this is NOT a punishment…. Makes a lot of sense.
Please do not try to make sense of registration policies since sense did not go into establishing them. There is no standard policy and each ‘fiefdom’ is left to make up its own policies. One day this ‘punishment’ will come to an end. Just hang in there with a positive attitude. That will frustrate your oppressors more than anything.
AND, to add to that, it is not just different from county to county, each time I go to register they have a different rule to follow depending on who you get.
It did get a lot better when a different employee took over the registration. Before it was taking 2-3 hours to be seen, now even if it is packed (Which it always is) you get seen in about 30 minutes.
Not sure what changes they may make in light of all this since I do not have to register again until June and hopefully things will be back on track.
Jed,
when you figure it out, let the rest of us know. I would say it is a laughable situation, but nothing about this is funny. I have said over and over again that when I was on probation I did not even have half the regulations we have now, of course then the registry had just started in 1997 and the Sheriff’s departments didn’t even really know what they were supposed to do.
Pinellas County having Registrants comply by Phone. Just did mine they dont want people coming in.
Pinellas making it impossible to comply with a law for which registrants are strictly liable.
FAC remind me what, if anything, is the guidance for situations in which counties simply refuse to allow people to register in person as required? (If it’s already in this discussion, I got lost).
All I can say is they have always been strait and Prof with me. I have date and time of calls and a recorded Message. Again I can only tell of my experience but I have been on for years and even the Home checks are done very Respectful and in a way not to bring attention. Many of my neighbors know and dont care but I appreciate how this county has so far handled my situation. I have much more respect now then ever before for my local law enforcement. I did mine on the Phone also but worry about the strict Liability
I called yesterday to find out about registration in Columbia county Florida.
I was told that all registration was being done by phone, and that I could do it right then.
This was told to me by a very pleasant woman named Tracy Hicks who said she was the Admin in charge. They offered no verifiable proof that you registered. She took all my info down and said my file would be updated. I understand with this covid-19 things change, but I am not too comfortable with not having proof I did indeed register. This give the cops way too much power to screw us over if they want.
I wrote down all info, and hope it does go good. But I am decided to post here as not only letting everyone know, but also as proof I did do it. Just in case!
Please everyone, stay safe, but stay aware, and keep good records.
Write down exact times and call from a verifiable number such as I did that if needed you can ask your phone carrier for proof call in a statement .
Just a piece of advice. I asked my officer to email me a copy of that 1st page of my re-reg papers so i could print it out and have that hard copy in case some cop wanted to be a jerk. She was happy to do so, and I got it in a matter of minutes.
I suggest that we all ask for that since they have your email address anyway and you can print it straight from that email which is especially easy to do from a Gmail account.
Stay safe everybody.
I 100% agree. When you got before a judge and it is your word against law enforcement that you registered, you will lose every time even with the best lawyer on the face of the Earth.
Even if the Sheriff’s employee meant well, they are not going to admit making a mistake and risk being fired just to save the skin of a sex offender.
I save a years worth of my registrations. I shred ones that are older than a year. I use to register one time a year, then 2 times a year and now 4 times a year. But hey, it is not punishment and soon will have to go in monthly just like on probation.
I know of at least one person who went back to jail on purpose because he said it was actually easier in there than on the street. Sad that someone has to choose between freedom and happiness.
Another possible option, if you don’t have email or the officer won’t email proof to you, would be to ask the officer if it’s ok to voice record him/her as proof. If he/she agrees (very important to avoid breaking the law), start a voice recorder and ask for permission again, while recording, so permission is given on the recording. Then ask them to ID themselves and the date and confirm that you registered. I was glad that they recently gave me the usual receipt when I registered, in person, in Orange County.
Osceola County is doing it by phone