Georgia mayor: Sex offenders to be kept in council chambers on Halloween night
Sex offenders in one Georgia city will spend Halloween being watched by police officers.
About 25 to 30 registered sex offenders in Groveton will be rounded up and housed inside council chambers while children are trick-or-treating, the city’s mayor said in a Facebook post. Groveton is about 135 miles east of Atlanta.
Mayor Gary Jones said the plan will “ensure the safety of our children.” The policy applies only to sex offenders on probation.
They will be overseen by four probation officers and one Grovetown officer, the mayor said.
The plan has been met with mixed reaction on social media.
Some support the decision, saying the plan will keep children safe.
“Finally a mayor that cares about his community,” one Facebook user wrote under Jones’ post. “Proud to have him as mayor. You’ll always have my vote.”
Others are against the idea, with some suggesting the plan is not legal.
“This is terrible,” another Facebook user wrote. “I am absolutely against any kind of sex abuse to children or anyone, but these ‘offenders’ have paid their debt to society. I pray they are walking as they should, but to place them in a building as a criminal is wrong. They were already judged, found guilty. Let them stay at home, let them follow the rules of their punishment.”
One commenter asked Jones if there have been incidents in the past prompting the city to do this.
Jones, who describes himself as a retired law enforcement professional and former police chief, replied, “There have been no incidents and this is being ran by the GA Community Services Probationary Dept. We are assisting and providing the facility. They have the authority to do this under Special Conditions.”
In a follow-up post, Jones wrote that he is “not personally going to pick up, round up, call or [go] to any sex offender’s home. … This is legal….. good grief!”
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As was pointed out, they couldn’t cite a single incident to justify their actions. I have never seen one in the news either. Maybe they should close all of the places that serve alcohol on Halloween, since it is far more likely that a child will be injured by a driver under the influence. In fact, they should ban ALL motorized traffic during trick-or-treating hours if safety is their goal. But no, safety is not the goal. Just another opportunity to legally shame and oppress a minority population, and to add another tough-on-crime item to their resumes for election time.
I say let him do it, This will help with fighting the Registery so Much !!!.
Now I know how lepers were treated!
Political whores willing to say anything for media attention. This mayor Gary Jones is such a whore.
Grandstanding and praying on the fears of the citizens he is sworn to protect and yet lies and manipulates instead all while using child safety – horrible!
By diverting attention away from the REAL DANGER to children which is “someone they already know” and NOT “stranger danger” or someone listed on a proven useless registry/list he is actually PUTTING CHILDREN at unnecessary risk! Shocking but true!
Is this actually legal?
As a condition of probation or parole it is… Just about everywhere. And that’s who is being sequestered at the courthouse.
The real issue is that the government I think intentionally blurs the lines between sex offenders on supervision and those who are not. Headlines like this make it sound as if every sex offender in the county is being rounded up for your safety, when the reality is that most sex offenders are at home, are only in contact with law enforcement at their registration deadlines, and in many places have no official restrictions. It’s pretending that all sex offenders are so dangerous that they require lifetime supervision when in reality only a few are being supervised at all and nobody has any idea how “dangerous” any of them are.
Someone should report the mayor for his public masturbation.
When you are on probation or parole, your parole officer generally has been granted the authority to add restrictions that they deem necessary. I am sure that the 4 probation officers and 1 police officer assigned to guard these people are going to be paid a good amount of overtime for this “special” assignment. At least they aren’t locking them up in a cell. Maybe they will even give them some Halloween treats too. I hope someone videos the show. Just another reason to lose respect for authority, since they refuse to conduct themselves respectfully.
Yes if your on probation.
That’s false imprisonment.