Hillsborough commissioners advance proposal to push sex offenders farther away from schools and park

[FAC COMMENTARY INSERTED]

 

TAMPA — There are so few places for newly registered sex offenders to live in Pasco County that Hillsborough County officials worry they’ll start moving here.

The solution? Make it as hard for them to live in Hillsborough as it is to live in Pasco.

[SO THIS ‘SOLUTION’ DOES NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF SEXUAL OFFENDING, IT DOES NOT ADDRESS A RASH OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN HILLSBOROUGH – THE ‘PROBLEM’ IS SIMPLY THAT AN UNDESIRABLE SEGMENT OF THE POPULATION IS BEING DISPLACED FROM ANOTHER AREA, SO NOW THE ‘SOLUTION’ IS TO FURTHER DISPLACE THEM.]

Hillsborough commissioners voted 7-0 on Wednesday to advance a proposal modeled after Pasco County’s 2015 ordinance that bars sex offenders whose victims were 16 or younger from living within 2,500 feet of a school, park and the like.

[7-0… WHAT A SURPRISE]

Florida law already prohibits most sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of places where children often congregate. But counties can approve more sweeping restrictions so long as they pass constitutional muster.

Pasco’s ordinance is facing a legal challenge because the new 2,500-foot rule covers most of its urban and suburban areas. In that case, a 31-year-old who in September pleaded guilty to inappropriately touching a teenage girl says the ordinance left him with few places to live.

Commissioner Sandy Murman said if Pasco’s ordinance stands, sex offenders will move to Hillsborough unless commissioners act. Indeed, the plaintiff suing Pasco lives in a Hillsborough motel.

[SO THIS SENSE OF URGENCY IS ALL ABOUT ‘NOT IN MY BACKYARD’]

“These people technically cannot really be cured,” Murman said. “I’ve witnessed, seen incidents, where these people just go out and find new victims. We need to do everything we can to improve public safety here in Hillsborough County at all costs.”

[COMMISSIONER MURMAN; WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INFORMATION FROM? WHERE IS THIS ‘TECHNICAL DATA’ YOU RELY ON BEFORE PASSING SUCH A HARSH RESTRICTION? DID YOU KNOW THAT SO CALLED ‘SEX OFFENDERS’ HAVE THE SECOND LOWEST RECIDIVISM RATE OF ALL CRIMES? ALSO, BY “CURED” WHAT DO YOU MEAN? DOES A 19 YEAR OLD WHO HAD SEX WITH HIS 15 YEAR OLD GIRLFRIEND OR TWO SEXTING TEENAGERS HAVE AN INCURABLE ILLNESS?]

Hernando and Pinellas counties have not passed tougher sex offender requirements than the state’s 1,000-feet rule. But Murman said 40 other counties in the state have expanded the residency buffer zone, making it “necessary for us to look at expanding our ordinance to protect our children.”

[THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PROTECTING THE CHILDREN – IN FACT, A RECENT STUDY SHOWED THAT AREAS WITH HIGHER CONCENTRATIONS OF SEX OFFENDERS WERE ACTUALLY SAFER! (SEE:  http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/22973-sexual-assaults-less-likely-in-neighborhoods-where-registered-sex-offenders-live) IF YOU WERE LOOKING TO PROTECT CHILDREN AND MAKE YOUR NEIGHBORHOODS SAFER, YOU WOULD BE FINDING WAYS TO BRING IN MORE SEX OFFENDERS]

In conjunction with the state law, Hillsborough County also limits the number of sex offenders who can live in the same apartment complex or trailer park, and restricts them from loitering within 300 feet of schools, child care facilities and other places where children gather.

[CLUSTER BUSTER ORDINANCES COMBINED WITH RESIDENCY RESTRICTIONS LEAVE VERY FEW OPTIONS. PRESUMING THESE HUMAN BEINGS NEED TO LIVE SOMEWHERE, WHERE DO YOU SUGGEST THEY LIVE?  OH… WE GET IT… EXILE THEM… WELL PREPARE FOR A LAWSUIT COMMISSIONERS – YOUR STATEMENTS TO THE MEDIA EXPRESS YOUR CLEAR INTENT]

Commissioner Ken Hagan said those rules were designed in 2007 in concert with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. At the time, Hagan said the Sheriff’s Office told the County Commission that tougher penalties might push offenders underground, where they don’t register, are harder to track and can offend again. He said maps demonstrated that expanding the restricted space beyond 1,000 feet would leave just a handful of spots to live in all of Hillsborough.

Asked if Sheriff David Gee had weighed in on the proposed changes, the County Attorney’s office said the sheriff’s staff believed the current state law was satisfactory. There was not a representative from the Sheriff’s Office at Wednesday’s meeting.

[I SEE, SO THE SHERIFF THINKS THE CURRENT LAWS ARE TOUGH ENOUGH, RESEARCHERS FIND THEM COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE… BUT THE POLITICIANS KNOW BETTER]

“It’s premature to go ahead and draft language,” Hagan said. “Let’s get the Sheriff’s Office here, let’s show the maps, let’s show all the facts, and then go down that route.”

Murman, though, pressed to move forward: “Quite frankly, I don’t want them living here in Hillsborough County at all.”

[WELL, QUITE FRANKLY, WE DON’T WANT COMMISSIONER MURMAN IN HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY AT ALL BECAUSE SHE’S CLEARLY ILL INFORMED AND SPEWS B.S. SHE IS ALSO BLONDE AND IF WE’RE GOING TO ACT BASED ON STEREOTYPES AND PREJUDICED GENERALIZATIONS, SHE IS TOO AIR HEADED TO SERVE AS COMMISSIONER]

Hagan ultimately voted to advance the measure. So did Commissioner Stacy White, who represents east Hillsborough and voiced concern “that our rural areas end up being the dumping ground for sexual offenders and sexual predators.”

[HAGAN AND WHITE MUST BE THE WEAK FOLLOWERS]

White also asked county staff to consider extending the “clustering” rule that limits the number of offenders in a single apartment complex so it also includes subdivisions and residential neighborhoods.

[SURE – PILE ON MORE RESTRICTIONS… HOW ABOUT MAKING THEM CARRY A HULA HOOP WITH A 500 FOOT RADIUS SO REGISTERED CITIZENS CANT PASS WITHIN 1000 FEET OF EACH OTHER?]

Commissioner Victor Crist offered an amendment that would have kept the perimeter at 1,000 feet for sex offenders that agreed to undergo chemical castration. But his proposal was met with crickets and did not get a vote.

[VICTOR CRIST – YOU SICK SADIST…NO NEED TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT YOU]

 

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