Public notice signs are up in neighborhoods across Nassau County warning people a sexual predator lives in the area and to not go near the home when asking for candy from neighbors.
Leeper says the signs are a warning families should take seriously. As for people who are against the signs, he says they haven’t many complaints since they started putting the signs up.
Hernando County Just passed Ordinance this year that RSO will have to post signage on their property from 0600hrs thru 23:59hrs on October 31st or “Any other day on which Halloween is celebrated. This is in Direct Violation of The Wooley vs Maynard Decision that Affirms the Government cannot compel speech without directly violating the 1st Amendment. The “any other day” clause of the ordinance is vague and ambiguous to the point that several weeks could likely apply since the box stores are already selling decor.
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What to do when a sex offender moves into your neighborhood
Municode.com has not picked up the ordinance yet.
You will find the ordinance without the language on the Halloween signs at:
Hernando County – File #: 12377 (legistar.com)
FAC appreciates the Hernando County Coordinator who keeps us abreast of what is going on in your county.
“News?”4Jax just can’t help themselves:
Neither can “1stCoast?News”: They support Nassau’s government compelled speech signs at very end of video:
I had a reporter come to my door once, they wanted to do a story on registered sex offenders. Why do people fall for that? They are going to twist and edit anything you say to fit their narrative. Never, ever speak to the press or you will regret it. AND, that becomes a permanent record that never goes away.
I was living with my parents at the time and my Dad who was in the Military at the time, came out with his combat uniform and forced them off the property. They were so rude that they had parked in a way that blocked any of our cars from leaving. I cannot stand the press. They have ruined more lives over trying to get a story, without any remorse or care for what it does to their loved ones.
So Halloween went well last night in Oakland County Michigan. Despite a very little bit of rain in my neighborhood, we had 27 groups of kids come get candy. I actually had to send my girlfriend to the store to buy more.
No police came to my house, and never even came down my road. No children were abducted by me or anyone else. I did a Google search this morning and found no reports in my area of any kids being harmed. I did, however, find a report of a drive by shooting in Chicago where 3 kids and 11 others were injured. You can read it here https://www.wibw.com/video/2022/11/01/hurt-including-children-chicago-halloween-shooting/
It seems that once again all the hype of kids being at danger of being harmed by a registered citizen on Halloween was nonsense, and the real danger was drive by shootings.
But we already knew that, right?
Although I do not hand out candy, Nextdoor put an end to Halloween on our street by posting about the boogy man in our house (Me) so NO kids went to ANY house and I will be blamed for ruining Halloween.
#1 Go with your kids and they will be “Mostly safe” (Poison candy myth)
#2 Skip my house and enjoy the holiday at other free candy houses
#3 It is the ones you DONT know about that should scare you.
#4 I immediately get ruled out as a suspect on any tainted candy since I do not participate.
It tells you how dumb people are when a sheriff wastes thousands of dollars on signs that will make absolutely no difference and they are not upset about it.
All 67 FL sheriffs waste significant sums on registry enforcement, monitoring, and notification— functions unrelated to public safety. Their budgets are approved without any objection from us (myself included) or any other members of the public.
In my part of the state, “support law enforcement” is the consensus view among our elected officials, who otherwise support small government.
Jacob
Having worked in law Enforcement (Government) there is a General rule on funding – “Use it or lose it”. If you do not use it, you will be deemed as not needing as much next time. If you use it all up, you have a chance of getting a budget increase next time.
All those “Free” surplus Government vehicle law enforcement are not free because their budget is spent on “Pimping” them out with high tech equipment and upgrades. And guess who pays for that? Yeah, tax payers who get no say. And yes, ALL of us pay taxes even if you do not file. Everytime you got to the store, buy gas, pay property tax, renew your tags etc.
Go for monetary damages as well. The federal 11th circuit ruled against this just last year and was well publicized. The Nassau sheriff knows damn well what rights are violated by this action and ordered it anyway. If this isn’t the very definition of a circumstance that would revoke qualified immunity, then what the hell is?!
These are the most despicable, unconstitutional, useless pieces of harassment I’ve ever seen. These yahoo Sheriffs have never read a single sentence of the constitution.
Question
Did the courts or a licensed therapist legally determine that he is at this time a predator? If not then the sign is a lie and false slander. Get a good lawyer and sue , sue ,sue.
FLA puts predator on the DL which should be legally challenged as 1) compelled speech and 2) a designation requiring a forensic psychiatric assessment to obtain that title (which would also usually require a stay in an appropriate facility to treat such an assessment outcome)
Just wow. They actually made a sighn with his name on it. If that ain’t punishment what the hell is.
Man this mess has just gone too damn far. It wouldn’t suprise me at all if someone gets hurt over these kinds of tactics.
I wonder if anyone will be going out late at night and taking those signs down.
If there were signs put up in my neighborhood, I’m sure that would happen too. The sheriff would just have to try to prove who did it. Good luck with that.
It would be quite funny if someone could dig up some dirt on this sheriff and have a sign posted near the sheriff department and his personal residence. Something that is true so there would be no threat of libel or slander. Seems to me that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
The only purpose of this is to create shame, fear, and violence against those who are registered. In prison there are inmates who’s whole purpose is to harass offenders, it’s no different out of prison, except they use the law to create fear in the community. They say just enough to make the community think that there are sex offenders hiding behind every tree.
Paul
Well………….Some of them are hiding behind trees because they are homeless due to registry restrictions, not because they are lurking.
Many of these guys are not even allowed to live in the house with their own family even though they have done their time. How is that constitutional?
Don’t these LEO look over each others policies to see what works, what doesn’t? OR do LEO groups advertise “here are meaningful ways to stay viable in the community” (even if we know how inaccurate, hateful or fearmongering). Did the Nassau City (?) Counsel have to vote on this money expenditure? How many LEO/City Employee manhours were used to place and remove, inventory, store, etc these signs? What, if any, empirical data can the Sheriff claim his efforts are supporting? IS the Sheriff up for re-election? Just had to toss in that last one…….
Big Al
I use to work in law enforcement. If you knew all the things that go on behind the scenes, you would puke. That is one of the numerous reasons I resigned. If you speak up you either get fired, transferred to school crossing guard or given a desk job in a deserted part of the building filing paperwork from filing cabinets from 1968.
I was having nightmares from things I saw and experienced and finally had enough. It does not matter if it is a small or large department, there are things that happen that movies could be written about.
You have 4 choices, snitch, stay silent or join in on the activities or quit. If you snitch you will either get fired or quit anyway because you are done like a steak at Longhorn.
They actually put the name of the registrant on the sign?! Oh, how low and vile can you be. But is it compelled speech? Is it on the person’s property or just “in the area?”
Excuse me for missing out on the part that the sheriff’s office is putting signs onto the property. So does the lawsuit have to happen first since the 11th Circuit ruled in Georgia? And what recourse do those registrants have for the violation by the sheriff’s office?
BWJ
Since Halloween is tonight, by time the lawsuit hits, they will most likely take down the sign and say so. The suit will be dropped and then next year they will do it again. That is why they waited till the last minute to post the sign.
But if the suit continues without being tossed, it could stop future signs from being posted. My thinking is though, is other court rulings that already addressed this should also be used where the signs were ruled as unconstitutional.
My thinking is that the 11th Circuit, of which Florida is a part, ruled on this issue just last year and it was very publicized. Not just on the anti-registry threads, but the mainstream media as well. And as you pointed out, they waited until the last minute to prevent court interference.
Accordingly, the Sheriff and his participating staff should lose their qualified immunity and have the appropriate hammers fall on them.
Irrelevant of the timing of the sign and their potential speedy removal, the unconstitutional action is still on the record and thus available to be sued in court. As noted already, the signs are unconstitutional by court order; thus, the sheriff needs to be aware of that case and a lawsuit has been filed so he is publicly put on notification his signs are verboten with an injunction preventing it forever. Just IMO…
TS
AND, since even we have a photo of it as evidence here on FAC site, they cannot claim it never happened like some politicians like to claim when they get caught red handed. No matter how much you “Cover up” and clean up, there is always some evidence left somewhere.
if the sheriff is found guilty of violating this civil will he go to prison and is it a 3rd degree felony?
should work both ways!
BWJ
The counties and cities often cite that the “Right of way” belongs to the county or city public works for things like water and electric lines and pipes. But if we went to the right of way in front of city hall and put up a sign saying the Mayor was a fraud and low down wife beater, we would be arrested and sued.
And that is even if the accusations on the mayor were true. I think the term that fits best is Hypocritical. Do as I say, not as I do.
I absolutely agree with you there.
Yeah, basically the county can put up a speed limit sign in your front yard about 3-5 off the easement and there’s nothing you can do about it – except mow around it. Move it or remove and they’ll charge you with” malicious destruction” of county property.
Ironically, once the speed limit sign goes up, people often defy it by speeding. Go figure.
Are we suing for damages this time? We could parlay the money we receive from successful litigation into more lawsuits. Much like ACSOL did once residency restrictions were ruled unconstitutional in California they went up and down suing cities who refused to acknowledge the court ruling and using the money received into more litigation
The registrants already are on the registry, have to register, some have to give notifications to neighbors, are on nextdoor and other sites that bash people. So signs that can cause someone and their families to be in danger are necessary?
Why not have us all wear our inmate #s on our clothing while they are at it? Remember the Salem witch trials? Burn them and if they live, they were really a witch, if they die they must not have been a witch.
Guess how many lived? ZERO. And yet they continued to use those tactics for decades until it was finally banned. But even after being banned, in some areas they continued to use that method for years afterwards reach far out from Salem Massachusetts.
I will be suing also. Probation in Tallahassee is making me put a sign up after I told them about the 11th circuit decision