FAC Letter to Volusia Sheriff and Public Records Request
It was recently brought to our attention that the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office is requiring personal information from persons required to register who intended to travel. Specifically the means of travel (including copies of flight information) for domestic travel and purpose of travel for domestic and international travel.
If you are not on probation, you are not required to request permission to travel. Accordingly, your purpose for going someplace is none of the Sheriff’s office’s business. Similarly, if you travel domestically, you are not required to give your flight information or mode of travel. The registration statutes do not require it and to our knowledge there is no ordinance that requires that information to be collected.
FAC sent the following letter to Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, to find out under what authority he is requesting this information, for what purpose it is collected and who is given access to this personal information. Separately, we sent a public information request to the records custodian for copies of these forms and what was done with them.
Discover more from Florida Action Committee
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Do you people really think that the Sheriff really gives a hoot? Worse comes to worse after we are in jail no bail for something we or the Sherriff does not know why, in the end we get found not guilty and there is nothing that’s nothing happens to the Sherriff. No recourse what so ever. Write all the letters e-mails that you want to the wrong player’s as you have been doing for Year’s ,,,,,,,the players you should be writing to are all the judges in the land. All the judges that handle these frivolous stupid arrests.
Can you tell us exactly what the statute requires to be told when we travel out of state domestically and also instate and what procedures we are required to do before and after?
Also, many of us still do not understand in state travel requirements. Is the DMV and the sheriff to be notified also, and our drivers license updated on in state travel and out of state? Are we supposed to get an out of state drivers license with our motel address on it, and then get another Florida drivers license when we get back when we travel out of state? What is the DMV supposed to do when we travel instate with our drivers license and when are we to notify them on both instate and out of state?
Are we to notify in state travel before or after we travel and to whom? When? My RSO clerk told be to notify as long as possible before instate travel in Osceola, but when I told her the statute says notify 48 hours after we travel she laughed and said that was ridiculous and “what would be the point of notifying after we get back”. I told her to read the statute and even pointed it out to her and she just scoffed and said nothing more about it and something to the effect of that was for jail. I then called the RSO assigned lady detective Keefer about it to clarify and she said it “sounded like I just wanted to make trouble” and would not speak about it any more.
I have no idea what we are supposed to do in this county…Not on probation. Thanks for any clarifications. I am sure a lot of us would like to know and you probably have covered this before but a refreshment would be appreciated.
From my understanding of the statute if not staying anywhere more than three or more days instate or domestic you do not have to notify Florida please check laws in other states. For example if you arrive on Friday and checkout Sunday morning you are fine as Friday does not count. If leaving the country you must report 21 days before and they will ask for flight number and destination. If I am wrong please correct.
Thanks, but I know what to do if we don’t have to register in and out of state. I am asking questions about when we do have to register… Please respond as I am sure most of us would like clarification. thanks
Jed
The answers is, they (The authorities) are setting us up to fail in a “damn if you do and damn if you don’t” scenario. I have stopped going just about anywhere anymore just for this reason. I live on the county line and all the stores are closer to the county I do not live in.
I know I do not need to register going across county lines for grocery shopping but even though I use to be a cop, I get nervous when an officer gets behind me. Depending on the officer, it might be my last day of freedom due to “Driving while registered”. Am I being a bit dramatic? You bet I am and with good reason. Do I live in fear? The answer is, that is a grey area.
Jed, FAC recently received a letter from FDLE on this subject. Maybe you can get it from them or maybe they will post it again.
I just had to do my 6 month registration in Lake County in November and they asked if I had travel plans outside the state. Also, the told me it didn’t matter if I left and came back the same day, I needed to notify them. Whenever I leave the state they want my mode of transportation (I usually fly and they want the airline, flight numbers, times, destination airport, etc) then they want to know if I am renting a car, and what the registration information is on that (who has that info? I let my wife rent the cars), and the address I am staying at. And they will run that address to see if it is valid before I leave registration. My sister has a Rural Route number in another state and it is different from the physical street number. I had to call her to get the physical street number one time because they couldn’t find the RR number.
Amazing account here from Lake County. They, too, would benefit from FAC letter.
I think they might possibly be begging up stuff in Volusia county. I traveled there in October and did my stuff here in the state I live in now. I have done this same trip, same hotel probably 6 times over the last couple years. I don’t check in with the county, honestly I’m trying to see my grandma in nursing home and leave ASAP. I got a call from Volusia sheriff maybe 3 weeks ago. She asked if I had left the county. She said I need to make sure I checked in. A fax or email is sent to where ever you are staying that you will be in that county. The lady said, “I remember talking to you and saying you had to register”. I said, ” no, that’s not true I never called you”. Some of this is not new, but they might be trying to get some numbers up by arresting some for failure to register. Just a thought.
I’ve been asked the same info by Broward County, all details flight numbers, hotels, reasons for travel etc, and am not on probation.
More of these Sheriff’s departments need to be held accountable for going above and beyond the registry requirements. Last I knew, only legislatures can change or add rules to registry compliance, not Sheriff’s.
I believe (I could be wrong) the Sheriff’s even when changing department policies for their deputies, have to get cleared by the county board of commissioners. So when did Sherriff Mike get such powers to make up his own registry rules?
I believe that question was the gist of our letter to him, we did not specifically ask when, but we asked pursuant to what authority. Please use our Public Information request as a template to ask when and then share the information with us.
FAC
I was just agreeing with you in my statement. Since I worked in law enforcement myself in the past, I know something about policy and authority. I know a lot has changed since then, but everyone, even the president of the U.S has to answer to someone.
There are 67 counties in Florida, and it seems all 67 of them have different rules for registration. (Gathering that from years of comments on here from different posts made by commenters.)
Some of us live right on the county line and go into other counties to shop as it is closer than a store in our own county if you live in a rural area. I drive like a Grandma in fear of getting pulled over and ending up in jail in another county for “Driving while registered”.
My point is, there is no consistency within the registry rules from the 67 said counties. And from the comments, it seems many counties also are doing the same thing as Sheriff “Smile for the camera Mike”.