Is your Sheriff’s Office requiring an itinerary for DOMESTIC travel?
A member has reported that when advising his local Sheriff’s Office of DOMESTIC travel, he was asked to report his flight information and specific itinerary.
For INTERNATIONAL travel that information is required by statute, but to our knowledge not for domestic travel, nor has it every been requested in the past.
If you have been asked to supply information such as flight or hotel details for domestic travel, please let us know in the comments below.
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I’m not an attorney, but as long as you don’t stay in any single location In the US for 72 hours (including cumulative) there shouldn’t be any legal reason to share that information with Florida unless laws have changed. Is this correct? Most states don’t require registration unless you’re there significantly longer than that. Say you do report a trip of 3 days or more, who exactly does Florida notify if you do have a temporary out of state address? Thanks FAC!!
The question does not concern registration. It concerns reporting flight information and itinerary for when you do have to report.
Perhaps it wasn’t clear.
You simply asked about people being required to provide itinerary for domestic travel.
Some of the responses suggest that people were required to provide itinerary even in situations where they did not have to report anything at all, just because they were leaving town for some period.
I read your question as, are you off parole and nevertheless told to provide itinerary for any and all domestic travel. And I am amazed at some of the responses.
You have opened a can of worms, and I thank you.
Jacob, to clarify; I was asking for people who are traveling domestically (interstate and intrastate) and off probation.
People who are on probation have to report additional information to their probation officers and that’s separate.
The catalyst for the question, is we were contacted by a member who advised that he was asked for travel details he felt were above and beyond what is required to be reported.
According to FLORIDA STATUTES 943.0435(7):
(7) …The sexual offender shall provide to the sheriff the address, municipality, county, state, and country of intended residence. For international travel, the sexual offender shall also provide travel information, including, but not limited to, expected departure and return dates, flight number, airport of departure, cruise port of departure, or any other means of intended travel…
The sheriff is not authorized to collect your flight number, port of departure or means of travel for domestic travel. Apparently, according to the anecdotal responses compiled here, several Sheriff’s offices are collecting information above and beyond what they are authorized to collect. Some come up with their own rules.
This information is being investigated and sent to an attorney.
Seems very clear. LE is either very incompetent or they just feel like they should do whatever they want and think they can get away with. Operating outside of the law is a crime.
According to FDLE a couple years ago, If your NOT on Probation and NOT moving, You do NOT have to report your itinerary to anyone, BUT, You ARE Required to follow any laws in effect in whatever State your in !! Tennessee says 10 days before you must report !?!?!?. And as for the 72 hour requirement in Florida, You can stay 2 days here, Then 2 Days there, then 2 more days somewhere else, And you do NOT have to report your address !!. A “Sheriff’s Office” will always tell you that you must report EVERYTHING you do !! But, You gotta know the laws ! Marion County USED to tell me I had to report ALL TRAVEL ! But once I challenged it, They no longer ask ! The ONLY thing you must tell them is IF YOU’RE MOVING ! I travel all the time, And I’ve had MANY contacts with Law Enforcement, And never had a issue about being out of state !! Technically you can travel 30+ days and as long as your do what’s required by whatever State your in, You don’t have to tell Florida anything !! EXCEPT for traveling Out of the COUNTRY !
I have scoured Florida law and found nothing about a requirement to provide any itinerary. If someone knows where to find it, please post. Thanks
The statutes don’t require it. Which is why we’re asking. They seem to be collecting information above and beyond what is required by law.
I would say above and beyond what is allowed by law.
Very good point! Thanks JC
That is good.
I like to phrase it that they are illegally operating outside of the law. Instead of following they law, they are following what they want and how they feel.
It is exactly the same as so many sheriffs I have seen where the law says that a Registered Person must provide information A, B, and C and they ask for A, B, C, D, E, and F. They can’t even follow simple laws and ALWAYS attempt to operate outside of them. That’s what criminal operations do.
I register in November, and during my last time in the sheriff office here in Volusia County I over heard the clerk telling a new out of prison RC that some people try to question everything so they have to do things like that because of them. Not sure what she was referring to. It was basic questions really she was asking and I didn’t quite understand. His response was well let them do ten years that will change their mind. Of course I don’t blame him, any time sucks. But I do believe here in this county they do go a little above and beyond what they are supposed to or maybe allowed to at times.
That is not going “a little above and beyond”. That is operating outside of the law. That is the definition of a crime.
I would have told that clerk that people would not have to question so much if LE was simply competent and moral enough to just follow the law. But what people learn is that LE will definitely not follow the law and that they certainly cannot be trusted.
I agree they break the law, but in all honesty what an I supposed to do? I have a family and kids that depend on me. I can’t afford to sit in the county having a Pissing contest with the sheriff. In Volusia you lose. I hate it but I just play along. I’m happy if no one harasses my kids or wife because of me. I’m happy if my house doesn’t get vandalized. I’m happy if the neighborhood watch doesn’t hype up sex offender witch hunt.
Does this suck, of course. I would love to have a van or trailer I could fix up to travel and just be left alone. Never going to happen. They want me away from everyone but want to watch me too. Seems contradictory.
So again, what am I supposed to do?
I think most people are in the exact same situation. I’d say to do what makes you and your family the happiest and gives you the most satisfaction. So it just depends on how you want to react and live.
But I will say that if we don’t fight back they will certainly continue to commit crimes.
For me personally, I’ve structured mechanisms that ensure that they pay every day. Not just every once in a while, but literally every day. That was what was important to me. If they ever arrested me, they would lose. I’m not bragging, that is just reality.
One time I went to register and they lady who was behind the window at the sheriffs dept. was new. She was so cool and nice to us. She was getting us out of there within 5 minutes each whereas the guy who use to be at the window “Detained” everyone for about 20 minutes each, backing up the line for hours on end.
A guy who got called up to the window could have gotten out of there in minutes if he was nice but he wanted to argue with the lady, cussing her out and stating he did not have to cooperate with the government tactics. He refused to sign the paperwork we have to sign each time stating all your information is correct.
When he left the guy stuck up his middle finger and said the F word. I apologized to the lady and said we are all not like that. She said it was ok and that his day is coming sooner than he thinks. Without any further info on what she meant, I am sure I knew what she meant.
None of us like being on the registry but you can make life easier for yourself by just being polite even if they are not, getting it over with until next time and moving on. Out of site, out of mind. They may not remember me for my kind words but they will sure remember the guy who made a scene.
I do not agree with anything about the registry but until we as a whole can do something to change it, why take it out on the officers who most would rather be out stopping robberies and car jackings than going door to door checking on ex offenders. If I was still in law enforcement and they tried to put me on that task force, I would have quit. That is not what most went through the academy to do. Perhaps a few get off on busting our chops but to me, those are the bad cops that treat everyone they come in contact with badly. Like our news worthy buddy Sheriff Chitwood who thinks it is cool to call everyone who is arrested a scum bag.
Without changing the subject, I had the same concerns for the same reasons about cooperating with verification checks At your home by law enforcement when you are no longer on probation or parole – the answer is still elusive. Perhaps there is someone who has a definitive answer for both issues?
if you are not on probation all you need to do is show your driver’s license/id. don’t answer questions (unless they are benign “how are you doing today” type questions). If they ask you to verify reporting information, you can tell them that you do so when you report for re-registration. If they ask if they can come in and take a look around, you tell them no. If they ask why not if you have nothing to find, tell them to get a warrant and they will find out for themselves.
Sensible advice and likely the easiest route by far. I think it would be easy for a Registered Person (RP) to teach LE that they will not be able to verify anything unless they call the RP in advance and arrange to meet the RP at the front gate of their property. The RP could give them 1 minute to look at the ID and then leave. That is the absolute most cooperation that I’d ever consider.
That aside, are RPs required by Floriduh law to allow at home visits? At work? If they are not, why allow it? Let LE talk to the neighbors. Why signal that Registries are acceptable? Why let LE pull propaganda stunts where they get together 100 big government employees and run “operations” with the media? Put an end to it. Make them focus on some actual useful LE work for a change. Don’t help them pretend that Registries are legitimate.
Sheriffs are authorized by statute to verify the information furnished, through on-site verification.
I don’t understand why this is such a point of discussion. Most officers will come to the door, say “Hi, are you ___ ___? I am here to do your address verification, can I see your Driver’s License?” you show them your drivers license, they say thanks and they move on. Some are jerks, just stay polite, show your ID and thank them for their time.
If they start interrogating, simply say you provided all information when you were in for re-registration, you would like to be as cooperative as possible, but if they have any questions you will be very glad to provide the information when you come in, as you usually do, or have your attorney present when they question you.
If they ask to come in, hard NO without a warrant.
Just use your common sense. If they ask “how’s your day going?”, don’t say “fuck you, I don’t need to answer your questions.”
I find it surprising that you don’t understand why this is such a point of discussion. Details matter. People care how they are being treated and what LE thinks they may do. I think it is obvious that if LE is not controlled, they will attempt to do whatever they think they can get away with. So I think it is especially important to set boundaries. LE should not continue to think that they have a hit list of people of whom they can harass, that the Registered People will allow it, and that the public will enthusiastically love it.
LE is very vested in trying to make the general public BELIEVE that they are “monitoring” “$EX offenders” and that they are protecting everyone. It would be VERY helpful to the cause of destroying the Registries if the general public KNEW and SAW that was not true. So instead of seeing media reports of squads of armed LE doing “operation this or that” and swarming clueless Registered People, they should see nothing but walls. Perceptions matter.
So I think it is a big deal to do what the law requires a person to do but to allow nothing more than that. If they supposedly “need” something more than the law requires, then they need to change the law. It is that simple. So Floriduh law authorizes sheriffs to do verifications, but does it REQUIRE anyone to allow it? If it doesn’t, I wouldn’t. Or if I did, they would have to call me and meet me at my gate. Easy.
Where I live, they do have to call me because they know if they don’t, they’ll be wasting their time. I’m very nice to any of them who are nice to me. But I certainly am not going to “thank them for their time”. I will tell them to stop believing in the Registry idiocy and go do some real LE work for once.
Lastly, I also don’t get why you think it is acceptable that an officer would come to a person’s door. I don’t want LE anywhere near my property, certainly not on it or near my actual home. I don’t let people that I don’t trust come onto my property or around my family. I get that some people can’t block off their doors. That’s okay, probably not that big of a deal usually.
The local pd runs warrant checks on the driver license. Is that ok? They won’t let me sign the address verification without it coming back from their dispatch. Im not on any paper or reatriction for over 20 years. Just a bit iffy about that and them asking where i was when i wasnt at door.
You don’t need to tell them where you were.
I think they know if you have any warrants before they come to your door. I can find out if you or anyone else in Florida has a warrant with 3 clicks of my mouse on the FDLE’s wants and warrants site.
Nevertheless they call it in on their SPEAKERS and freak out my wife.
To JM
Yeah it sucks. I have two different deputies who come to my house. One is discrete, one is not. The one cool one, once a neighbor asked if everything was ok when she saw a deputy at my door, the deputy yelled to her ” Yeah I am just following up on an incident in the area.”
The other deputy would have said ” Yeah I’ll come fill you in, in a few minutes.
No, you do NOT have to show your drivers license at the threshold of your home or even if outside on your private property. It constitutes a warrantless search.
Ok – YOU don’t. For everyone else, we recommend showing your license and remaining compliant.
Compliant with WHAT?! There is NO statute (for those not on any type of supervision) to surrender your rights protected by the 4th Amendment. This seems very contradictory to the purpose of your organization which, unless I’m mistaken, is not only educating the public and government but also educating men and women suffering under the registry scheme. You tout fighting against public servants abusing their power and discretion by enforcing non-existent laws but in another breath tell people to shup up and put up. Seems somewhat hypocritical.
Compliant with the registration requirements as they relate to address verification and cooperative with reasonable requests from law enforcement.
You, TE, are free to be as uncooperative and militant as you like.
(6) County and local law enforcement agencies, in conjunction with the department, shall verify the addresses of sexual offenders who are not under the care, custody, control, or supervision of the Department of Corrections, and may verify the addresses of sexual offenders who are under the care, custody, control, or supervision of the Department of Corrections, in a manner that is consistent with the provisions of the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 and any other federal standards applicable to such verification or required to be met as a condition for the receipt of federal funds by the state. Local law enforcement agencies shall report to the department any failure by a sexual offender to comply with registration requirements
Your reply only proves my point. Absolutely nothing saying “you must show your drivers license to LE upon visiting your place of residence or employment”. When registering, yes…when pulled over, yes…that’s it. The fourth amendment starts at the entrance of our property. We are still secure in our papers and effects. To come to the threshold of your home, demand you open your door and reach across the threshold to hand your drivers license (papers) to them without a search warrant is, in effect, a warrantless search. Not rocket science. And, no, not be militant or uncooperative…I just choose to not be ignorant by researching and applying what I learn to protect my God-given rights. My rights do not come from men and their pieces of paper; those are only in place to (allegedly) protect our natural rights from our Creator. But, in the end, to each his own.
My wife and I took a trip in our RV to Marathon Key (Monroe County) in March of this year. We came back from site seeing the second day we were there and there was a Sheriff business card stuck in the door. I called the woman and asked why it was there. She merely responded that they were doing a location verification. About 5 minutes later, two Sheriff Patrol cars pulled up. One officer knocked on the door, I opened it and he asked me for my license. He took my license back to the car and didn’t return it for about 10 minutes. What I was not aware of, is that my wife was out walking our Dog and upon her return, she was questioned by one of the Officers. They asked her if there were any minors inside the RV and if she was afraid for her own safety. I find this to be very unusual and would like to know if our rights were in any way violated by this invasion of our privacy. I have since instructed my wife to never answer any questions posed to her by any officers that do verification checks. Does anyone from FAC have any suggestions? Should I contact my attorney?
please contact [email protected]. this is a very interesting situation. A declaration from your wife might help in the ex post facto plus lawsuit.
We are heading out for 2 weeks vacation this morning. Upon our return I will have her contact them with the information. Thank you for your prompt response.
Update:
We are currently in Lee County, Fl. I went to the sheriff department to check in. I was told that I also have to go back either one or two days prior to my departure and check out. He said I have to do the same process to leave as when I came. I do not find it in the paper work he gave me but I am not an attorney. Would it be possible to send this to the same website you gave me above and see what your take is on it?
Sounds like an illegal, unconstitutional phishing expedition. But then what else can we expect from some LE that would rather chase RSO’s than dangerous drug dealers or armed thieves? No sense in risking one’s life when that one can get credit for being on the job by chasing RSO’s.
When I worked in law enforcement there was no such thing as registries but of course there have always been people being arrested for sex offenses. I am sure many of those people arrested went on to have a career ( that allows ex-felons ) but without the extra tarnish of being on the world wide list of deplorables.
Nowdays it can take months or even longer to find a job. Not because we have a record, many places hire ex felons. However a very low percentage of places will take a chance on someone on the registry. I got hired at a place and once someone came in and complained that they knew I was on the registry, I was let go. Of course they used a non related BS reason for letting me go but it was the next day after someone came in and hung flyers of me all over the job site. If that was a coincidence then the Twilight zone is real.
I’ve asked this before. Perhaps this time will be the charm. Where exactly can we find all of the Florida state laws pertaining to registration requirements? For that matter, is there any one place where we can see the current laws listed on a state-by-state basis?
Thanks
Asked and answered several times.
ALL Florida State laws can be found in the Florida Statutes. (http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/)
MOST County and Municipal Ordinances can be found in Municode (https://library.municode.com/fl) If you don’t see your city or state, you can google ‘[Name of municipality] Ordinances’ and some host their ordinances on their website. If you still cant find them, you can go to your local county courthouse and ask the clerk of courts.
There is no comprehensive “list” of laws for all 50 states + territories.
I know, I know. I ask then I forget, or I’ll save it and then I can’t find it; hence, “perhaps this time will be the charm.” Sorry to be a pain.
State-by-state current laws may be found at the NARSOL state wiki. It is of course up to the user to verify whether they are up-to-date (you’ll find links to applicable sections of state codes).
Complete Florida registration laws are handed at some county registration laws. But where they’re not, this is an understandable compliance FAQ and thank you FAC for patiently handling this question on a repeat basis.
*”handed out at”
Thanks, Jacob.
In Pinellas County, I was required to provide the addresses of my overnight lodging locations for a long weekend trip out west earlier this summer.
To all of you who posted here: were you on any kind of supervision?
No, been off probation 18 years, they tell me the same thing anytime I ask about leaving the state…
I told them about the FDLE Letter to FAC, and gave them a copy, they said until FDLE sends them this letter, the rule in Broward County Stands…
Cannot leave the state without advising them of when and where I’m going….if I do,I’ll be arrested and brought back to Broward County for violating FDLE sex offender rules….
I was not
I’m on federal supervised release.
We are talking about reporting to the Sheriff’s office, not what you have to report to probation.
Nope, no supervision.
Not sure why my previous comment wasnt posted…oh well.
Not sure why everyone is having to report all of this just for domestic travel. It was stated to me if I’m staying somewhere for 3 days cumulative in a calendar year, I had to report. If not, dont worry about it. That’s what the law says, so that’s all I’m gonna worry about. The FDLE can say what they want and be aggressive all they want. Even they aren’t above what the law says.
Of course, you all can take my route, which isn’t a very popular opinion lol. Just drive when you travel and dont worry about the reporting nonsense. As long as you dont get pulled over, you’re good lol.
Let me put the disclaimer here….
**FAC does not advocate nor support this viewpoint and encourages its members to abide by all state and federal laws.
There ya go. And it’s just a joke people. I report everything when its convenient for me to do so. If it’s not, then i just wing it and drive the speed limit. Lol. Sometimes you just gotta live a little guys. I’m not going to allow myself to be ruled by this never ending nightmare.
Your previous comment wasn’t posted because it contained information that was incorrect and your current one is off point and irresponsible.
You are required to report if you establish a permanent (3 or more consecutive) or temporary (3 or more days in the aggregate) or transient residence, anywhere in the US, but Florida Statutes do not required you to report your flight information or certain other travel details unless you are traveling internationally.
If you chose to try to skirt the law, we suggest you keep it to yourself, don’t encourage others to break the law and certainly don’t be the person who admitted to something in a public forum.
Thanks. You’re always a breath of fresh air!
Yeah it wasnt clear that you were only talking about flight info. Seems clear to me that it’s all inclusive. If you’re not gonna be somewhere for more than 72 hrs in a calendar year, driving or flying, it doesn’t need to be reported. Is that correct or incorrect?
And if sheriffs offices are asking for stuff above the law, what is it we’re supposed to do??
I don’t know where you are getting 72 hours from. The statute is “3 or more days”.
The sexual offender shall provide to the sheriff the address, municipality, county, state, and country of intended residence. For international travel, the sexual offender shall also provide travel information, including, but not limited to, expected departure and return dates, flight number, airport of departure, cruise port of departure, or any other means of intended travel. The sheriff shall promptly provide to the department the information received from the sexual offender.
Is it clarified in the law that 3 days means 72 hours? I think that is the common sense meaning. But if it is not clear, I’d have to get it clarified by Floriduh in writing.
I expect this has already been discussed so apologies if that is the case. Maybe you could have an FAQ page and just direct people to that every time?
3 days does not mean 72 hours.
The statute expressly says hours when hours are implied and days when days are implied. It makes reference to reporting within 48 hours in certain places and 3 or more days in others.
According to responses from the FDLE, “days” might mean only full days, with partial days not included.
The meaning of “Day” is one of the items addressed in the vagueness claim in Does v. Swearingen.
Wednesday at noon to Thursday at 11:59 is 24 hours, but it’s not necessarily one day – it can be zero days, since neither Wednesday nor Thursday are a complete day, or it can be two days, Wednesday and Thursday. For now, all we know is that different law enforcement agencies interpret it differently and you need to check on how yours does.
It is quit obvious from all the replies that no one really knows for sure what the laws/requirements are. The more I read, the more confused I become. I just live a law abiding life and let the ‘chips fall where they might’. Life doesn’t have to be this confusing for people to be safe.
That is because even law enforcement doesn’t know. I once got detained at a school, I was dropping off my Grand daughter for an event. A Lt. with the PD had a license plate reader and got a hit on my vehicle as being a registered outcast.
He was very kind and professional but after staying with me for over 30 minutes while he waiting on an answer from the FDLE, he told me FDLE didn’t have an answer if I had violated any offender laws, rules, ordinances or statues. He asked If I would leave ( I was leaving anyway ). I said I had to come back and pick her up later and he just said “Do what you have to do “.
Yes, recently I submitted a travel notification to my local sherrif”s office and was also advised that I needed to provide travel vehicle info, what hotel I would be lodging at, as well as any itinerary if applicaptable to my travel out of state. I am no sure if all this information is lawful for them to obtain when traveling out of state but yet it’s what they have requested in Flagler County. It’s truly like we are on forever probation even after we serve our time.