Hello. Just to let fellow people required to register know: my local city police showed up for my verification. I am no longer on Probation. I register through my county sheriff not the city. They asked me questions not asked during the regular registration (Do I have an internet service provider? Who is my closest living relative and what is their phone number? Do I have any minor children or grandchildren? What are their names and ages? How often do they come here? ).
I at first told the officer I wouldn’t answer them without asking my attorney. He said he’d be in his car for a bit if I wanted to contact the lawyer. i luckily got a hold of him and he told me to answer the questions cause he didn’t think they were anything that threatened me. The cop returned and I answered. He then told me that his lieutenant told him that if I didn’t answer they would contact SVU and would arrest me.
It’s so hard to know what to do. I feel confident in following my lawyer’s advice, but I would like to know if the cop is just threatening me without justification. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.
J
Go to Florida code 943.0435.
Print out two copies.
One for you, one for them when they visit.
Read it. Understand it.
Know your rights.
Be respectful, but don’t give them anything you are not required to.
Watch Never talk to the police on YouTube and take that to heart. Even if a question seems harmless it may come back to bite you. Besides when one is getting ready for bed it’s best that it belongs to you and not government.
I have dealt with overzealous officers several times in Orange County. I feel angry and fearful every time I am confronted by the police.. probably the same as most people in this situation. I am angry that I have to go through this dehumanizing process several times per year. I am fearful that I will be arrested for a minor detail or a requirement that I was not aware of. I try to maintain a balance by standing up for my rights while still being respectful to the officer.
I have experienced questioning during address verification. The officer usually starts fishing by asking if there is any information he can update for me, as if he is doing me a favor. I know that he is looking for a reason to arrest me because that’s his job. I say thank you, but I handle my information updates in person at the sheriff’s office as the law requires. If he asks about my email addresses or internet identifiers I say that I update that information through the FDLE website. The registration law says that the information must be updated in person (or through the website for a few items). I use that to my advantage.
I am not on probation so I don’t have to submit to searches without a warrant; that includes collection of DNA. I once had an officer show up to take a sample, because “the FDLE sent him”. He was the same officer that had done my address verifications before. He was wearing gloves and holding a swab when I answered the door. I politely asked him what law requires it since I am not on probation. He said if I don’t give a sample now, he will have to inform his commander and come back with a warrant. I said that sounds fair to me, come back with a warrant and I will be happy to comply. I kept my cool even though I felt angry and violated. He never came back for the sample.
A few times I felt that the officer went beyond what the law requires, by demanding information not required by law and threatening me outright or in an indirect. In those cases I try to reason with the officer by saying that I don’t believe the information is required by law, and if he can show me where it is required then I will be happy to comply.
There were times that I called the Sheriff’s office and asked for a supervisor so I can complain about an officer’s behavior or demeanor. It typically takes a few days to get a call back. When speaking to the supervisor I am respectful and stick to the facts so it doesn’t seem that I have a personal problem with the officer. That has mostly worked out, where the problem was addressed with the specific officer and it didn’t happen again.
ABC
As a former law enforcement officer, thank you for standing up to the bullies. There are three kinds of registered people. Thos who just do anything the cops say, those who refuse any rules on them and cuss officers out, and those who comply to a point, are pleasant but know their rights.
God only knows what could have happened with that DNA sample. They could have said they lifted it off of a pair of panties or underwear and it matched, tying you to a crime you didn’t commit just to get you back in jail. This crap has gone far enough.
Until a judge puts an end to this madness, law enforcement seems to have carte blanche to impose whatever they want on us. The Officer who comes to my place has always been cool and downlow. Last time he came by he was a jerk and was using a loud voice so everyone could here “MAKE SURE YOU ARE UP TO DATE ON YOUR REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS!”
He is due back this month and since the majority of the people on my street are out of work, everybody is home making it much harder to get it done with, without incident. Add to that the post my neighbor tells me about they are saying about me on Nextdoor, it is a wonder I have not been lynched.
CherokeeJack
How is shunning you for a crime you committed 20 plus years ago making the neighborhood safe? How many of your judgmental neighbors are committing sex or other crimes right now. Easy to point the finger at others, when one should look in the mirror. I rather deal with Jeff Dunham’s dummy Bubba J.
Brandon
Mine was 31 years ago. There wasn’t even a registry when I was arrested, charges nor during sentencing. Even went back on an appeal and there was no registry.
CherokeeJ
I can only image what you have had to go through over the DECADES!
-they SWUNG a Pendulum years and years at YOU, AFTER THE FACT!–scumbags!
Thanks CherokeeJ for all You do!
Peace Out!
Truth
What sucks so badly is, I asked for a lawyer not once, not twice, but three times. I was told if I asked for a lawyer, I would be all over the news. So I spilled my guts and even confessed to killing Jimmy Hoffa (Being dramatic).
Anyway, I was ok with doing time as I did do SOME things but not all they charged me with.
I did my time, got out on good behavior. The registry hit just before I was to be released and I was retroactively put on it. Been on it since 1997. My Charge from 1991. Anyone arrested now can do a plea and say “I ain’t going on no damn registry” and the prosecutor will say “You don’t have a choice but if you don’t go to trial, we can work a deal.
Well I and many others never got a chance to do that, we had already plead. They told me tough crap. So I cannot go back in time and change something but they can? WOW just freaking Wow how do the judges sleep at night? (Pretty comfortably I am told)
Since cities are corporations, I think some of them tend to act more like big companies by covering their asses against lawsuits from their shareholders (residents, that is) who might claim that their kids were being groomed by a PFR in the neighborhood, or something like that – and that the city wasn’t doing enough to discourage PFR’s. They might also want to encourage arrests for lame, easy prosecutions to benefit bored lawyers, bondsmen, prosecutors, etc. who don’t have many cases to deal with.
I recommend everyone watch the movies: “The Report” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” After which you’ll get a stark and disturbing realization of familiarity on subjugation. The tactics employed by the interrogators in those movies are shocking similar:
Debility – The feeling of waking up with a boot on your throat every morning.
Dependency – The omnipresent stress of being required to relay information that is current, complete and accurate because of the “compliance or prison” schema.
Dread – The constant fear of being arrested and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Walking on egg-shells in perpetuity.
Compliance > Control > Learned Helplessness.
So, when they start asking impertinent questions, don’t be their useful idiot! They are constantly testing the waters to see what they can get away with!
If a cop asks me information that is required by law when doing checks I’ll answer. This summer I had to go to a funeral and while I was out of state I had a address check. I got a call from the registry gal asking me where I was and I politely said out of state. Funny thing is they knew I was home and didn’t come for a visit till October. Most of the time it’s I know you are compliant and aren’t a threat, are there any changes and leave.
I guess if there actually ARE any changes, the PFR would likely be guilty of a felony for not having already reported them at the sheriff’s office.
It seems FAC should be sending a letter to the police chief and request an internal affairs investigation. Then make the results of that investigation known to everyone.
Or a member should and share the response.
Really, Contributor 3? Not much of an advocacy group then. What about the goals of teaching LE and the public about our lives on these registries and the uselessness of them? Is that not a goal anymore?
It is, we just don’t have the bandwidth to do everything asked of us. Would you be willing to step up as a volunteer?
Sure.
Concerned
FAC has limited resources and use volunteers. FAC is not a law form not or they lawyers. Also they have to choose which battles to fight and some are more important than others.
Have a great day
@Curious and Concerned
Cherokee is absolutely correct in reminding you and all of us that effectiveness of an advocacy group is in large measure determined by member contributions. This can be financial and/or through active participation. Sniping in BLOGs may feel good, but it accomplishes nothing. BTW did you both write, call and post an online comment to Merrick Garland concerning the proposed DOJ implementation rules? Just askin’.
There is a lack of activism across the country. People need to step up, volunteer, and help with the efforts.
I already already spent and am currently spending much of my life trying to assist as many people as possible. Every year the number of requests gets larger and larger, and has reached a point beyond my ability to help everyone. This is full time and I get zero compensation for it.
I am a one person operation. I am pretty sure FAC is larger and while it only concerns a single state, it is a state with a very large population. It is a state that has to contend with a complex system of laws that varies by county and municipality. They also have to contend with high profile and powerful adversaries like the Books.
I am sure that FAC, like any other group in this Anti-Registry Movement, is in need of volunteers, people that can pick up the things the existing members can’t cover because we are stretched so thin. So offer to help.
It is also true that we lack a training course for new activists. I am hoping to correct that by helping with putting together an activist handbook, which is a collaboration with other activists. I hope that will be a help to those who want to get involved but are not sure how to get stated. But in the meantime if you want to get involved, then reach out to FAC and ask them what you can do to help.
Since you are off probation, I’d request to speak to the Lieutenant and ask what statute required answering those questions. I’m still on federal supervised release, know state law and courteously don’t respond to the locals. Deputies stopped by a couple of months ago and we had a very civil conversation. We both agreed that I was not required to verify my residence (not Florida), nor was I required to answer questions. I thanked them for not arriving in uniform, and they left.
Occasionally police, and anyone in authority, need to be reminded of the limits of that authority. I carefully choose when and how to do that because they may resent it and can screw with you. Always get the supervisor’s name and number. Sometimes that alone will dissuade those who are just trying to intimidate. I might even have handed the phone to the cop and asked him to speak with the lawyer. A little reverse intimidation.
Veritas.
ED
When I was newly released from prison, I was living in a small city. They would sit in unmarked patrol cars and when I would go somewhere, they would follow me at least until I left the city limits. I mean what did they think they were going to catch me doing? Stopping at a brothel? Meeting with a cartel?
You might think that is silly but, what is really silly, is the amount of resources poured on sex offender enforcement, and yet millions of unsolved crimes sit in boxes around the U.S do to staffing shortages. Mind boggling. So 98 year old Granny May got hit over the head by a bad guy but they cannot afford to waste an officer on that because they need the money to buy gas to follow us around every day. I just realized we are in mini Russia.
@Ed C,
Cheers sir. Your comments are well informed and this one is no exception. In Florida, residency checks are required to have one show an id and nothing more. Should the LEO ask a few other questions related to info already given that’s usually ok with me. I’m taking that as a C.Y.A. thing on their side. They have job requirements too.
I’ve said this before, know the statutes that you are now required to live by. In this case, know what you are obligated to answer/show. This will allow you to act accordingly if someone with authority decides to overstep themselves.
At the end of the day, the police are the authority we have to “comply” with to stay free. Is it unnerving to have police asking personal questions? Absolutely.. But if you don’t, then you loose your freedom, job, and now have a very expensive, time-consuming court battle in front of you. So, who won? Even if you are able to prove malfeasance by law enforcement, they still win by drudging you through the mud of the correctional system. So, sure it’s hard, but the alternative to not “complying” is so much worse, we might as well do as asked. We can always fight for justice or preservation of said rights from the comfort of our living room while still working, and enjoying life!!!
Get a new attorney. One that will actually fight for you against this harassment.
I wouldn’t have told him crap. Unless you are here to either serve a warrant, or are doing an investigation for which requires such questions, than I remain silent. Call SVU, and I will call my attorney, thanks.
Tereto
Another idea is, if it is city cops and not the county Sheriff’s, just don’t answer the door. Eventually maybe they will give up. Probably not but make them waste their days trying to get ahold of you.
Of course if you are on probation, they basically try and make you believe you have no rights. As soon as I was off probation, I got the Hell out of Dodge.
What happened to 5th amendment?
The Right to remain silent, is an arrestable offense now?
Jeremy
As a former cop, they use “Failure to comply” to arrest you. Even if you get the charge thrown out, you now have a new arrest on your record which makes it that much harder to ever get off the registry. I believe they are getting nervous about all the people getting wins to get off the hit list, so they are doing everything in their power to prevent you for doing so.
We were given a “cheat” sheet of lesser known laws we could charge someone with just to get them in the system. I had one of the lowest rates of arrests because I tried to give people a chance, especially those who had never been in trouble before. Why ruin someone’s clean record just for having a joint in their pocket?
They already KNOW all of this information. They’re just trying to catch you in a lie and testing your honesty so they can red flag you further.
They will most likely ask these SAME questions AGAIN when you go in to register so-as to trip you up and incriminate yourself.
They’re getting creative, sneaky and desperate, so don’t play their game. Let them know that you know what’s what and you don’t appreciate deception and emotional manipulation tactics
Facts
That reminds me of a true funny story. I went in once and the new guy asked me my age. I said “It is on the paper work”. He said “don’t be a smart ass”. I said 59. He said last time you registered you said you were 58 so which is it? I said “Have you ever heard of this new thing called a birthday?” What I really want to say to the guy was, “listen son, I have underwear that are older than you”.
All the other officers about fell on the floor laughing. I was not trying to be a wise guy and thought for sure he would get revenge somehow. The next time I went in, they had someone different at the window. Guess he couldn’t hack the pressure, or maybe it was just his day off, who knows.
I like it when i replay the Ring door bell to them, as they made remarks about me before they pushed the doorbell, at my home….just in case they try something ill have it for court on what was said prior to seeing me…my ring starts recording 40 feet from the door with voice/video….and stays running for 2 minutes….
Ive only had 2 officers who went out of there way to annoy me, i tell them i only change my white paper at the county sheriffs dept, not by the police…..
Rick
I’m also in Leon and got the same questions last time (maybe 6 months ago). I answered because I don’t want the cop’s harassing me any more than they already do, but realized that it’s beyond what they’re suppposed to. No probation/adult “victim”/ 21 years ago.
JC
The cops are the same as our neighbors, they could care less if you molested 20 kids or was just seen peeing in the woods. Once you are on the registry, to the public we are creepers, molesters, rapists and any other horrible stigma. Now with the nextdoor app, my life has been way much harder.
It has gotten ever harder for me recently as someone in the neighborhood went door to door telling everyone about me. They failed to disclose that my incident was 31 years ago. They tried to ban to together and buy my house, but I informed them that I do not own the house, my parents do. I further told them, they are welcome to move because I am not going anywhere. So far 3 of them have sold their homes, Good riddance, don’t let the garage door hit you in the tush when you leave.
Hey Cherokee,
I posted that stuff for context, not because I think anyone of us is better or worse than another, but can see why it might look like that. I could see LE harassing some registrants more than others, but what the heck do I know? 🤷
I would call your lawyer back. If you had invoked the fifth I don’t know how they could have arrested. The exception that I know is if you’re on paper, then you have to comply. But then I think your PO would have been there. Stories like this make me wish I had studied law instead of medicine. Stay strong and stay safe.
Does your attorney specialize in sex offender law? Some are not up to date on current case law, regulations, etc. Might want to get a second opinion, just a thought 🤔
When I was living in Orange County and they did verification checks, they never asked questions like that. I now live in Arkansas and the County Sherriff never asked those questions either. Now when I took my current job, I went to the city police to register my job. They tried to get to answer those type of questions and I refused. Told him they were not relevant to my registration. The officer just smiled, took my registration sheet, and walked away. Its been 8 months and havent heard back from them.
I think it was just an intimidation tactic. Applause for contacting your attorney and getting thier advice first.
Kevin Hill
There is truth in the saying “Give someone an inch and they will take a mile”. Having been in law enforcement, I can verify some officers will do whatever it takes to get you back in jail, including lying. And they will also lie on the stand in court.
When I got arrested I refused to take a polygraph stating they are not accurate because if you are nervous (Which everyone usually is when arrested) it can sway the results. In court the officer lied and stated I failed a polygraph. My lawyer asked to see those results since my client (me) stated he took no such polygraph. The attorney further stated that polygraphs are not admissible yet law enforcement continues to bring them up when it suits their agenda.
I Get visited Mothly by my police department, its used to be once a year,then 2 times a year, now the police Chief wants it done monthly, i get asked a variety of questions from different officers each time they show up, they look at drivers license, and have the white papers in hand….
As soon as they deviate from the white paper, i say i only answer to the Broward county Sheriffs dept, where i Register every 3 months, that usually puts a stop to the fishing expedition the police are trying to catch you and arrest you, especially when they ask if you went anywhere for a few days or go on a weeks vacation…..
My attorney said don’t give them any information other than whats on the white paper, there there for a home check, not an interrogation of your life, hoping to trip-u-up, and get info they can try to arrest you on…..
As the old saying goes, loose lips, sink ships….
Rick
That is why I moved out of the city and into a rural part of the county. I only get an address check twice a year that usually lasts less than 5 minutes with reminders to register and so on.
Although people should be able to live wherever they choose, I made the choice to move into a county and I never get random checks, always just the twice a year quickies.
Hi CJ, I agree, but theres really no where i can go, most of Broward citys have rules that ban you from moving there, palm beach has some open country but its mostly farm land, my wife loves our condo so ill just deal with the police harassment, called my lawyer and he said they could check you weekly if they wanted to, its there way of saying, please move out of our city, i have a couple of years to go before i can be removed from the sex offender registry, ill tough it out here and hopefully be able to live in harmony here…..
Thanks for your advice though !!!!
Rick
Rick
I will keep you and your family in my prayers. I will start as soon as I stop typing in 3—-2 ———-1. Prayer time.
Bad advise from your lawyer. NEVER talk to the police. Don’t even answer your door. These address verifications are BS and you do NOT have to comply with them. You only have to comply with your in person verification in the months required.
Him telling you that you must answer or be arrested was BS.
Stand your ground, refuse to talk to police, don’t answer questions, and RECORD them.
Disgusted
I saw a post on here earlier in the year about a person who refused to answer the door to verify their address. The cop put a note on the door saying “Either verify your address by being home or get arrested”. The person got violated for failure to verify their addresss.
From memory, I believe they got it tossed or court but they had a new arrest, lost money from lawyers and a hard lessen. Like I said it was a while back so all the details were fuzzy but do remember them saying if you are thinking of refusing an address check at the least, then you may be asking for problems. I do it twice a year, about 4 to 5 minutes of my time then left alone for 6 months.
And as a final note, you keep doing you. We all get advice on here but what works for one person may not work for someone else. States, counties and even the officers themselves all have different ways of doing things. Not all of them are legal and the system is seriously broken. I think all of us have at least one registry horror story and many of us have pages of them.
I get that, but there’s not one single State that has a law stating one must comply with these compliance checks.
I once lived in a county where the sheriff tried to tell me I needed to bring in a copy of a utility bill to prove where I lived. I told him proof of where I lived is on ,my license and that is all I would be providing.. He then stated that “a lot” of people provide a fake address on their license. Again, I told him that’s not my problem, and that the information on my license was correct and I will not be providing any other documents because Michigan law states we have to provide a valid license or state ID. Nothing else.
All these addition hoops they try to make us jump through are BS, and I will only do the bare minimum required of me. Nothing more, nothing less.
Disgusted
I am assuming you were not one of those selected to be removed from the registry?
under the new michigan law
I would ask your attorney to contact a civil rights attorney and see if there are grounds for a lawsuit. Most likely, though, unless they had actually arrested you, you wouldn’t be able to prove actual harm, but it’s worth asking.
No registrant should ever let the possibility of a lawsuit slip by!
Are you sure it was actual law enforcement?? Scammers and vigilantes like easy prey. Especially since the whole covid thing, I didn’t think anyone was having home visits anymore(at least here in Duval). If it was legitimate law enforcement, I’d suggest having a copy of all the state and county statutes on hand. Then if this should happen again, you’d be armed with all the pertinent information you’d need. I would also consider contacting the office where you register and question the legitimacy of this nonsense.
Andrea
In my area you either get once a year, twice a year or 4 times a year verification checks by Sheriffs office. If you are on probation or live in a city limits, you could get checks almost daily like I did to the point of harassment.
I once wrote a letter to a small police department to the chief to let him know that I could write in a complaint letter stating how some of his officers were harassing me. Instead, one particular officer stood out. He was beyond kind and we exchanged law enforcement stories. No we were not going to go have beers together but I could tell the officer was genuine and not judging me.
After the letter was hung in the police department, I guess all the other officers laughed at him for getting a “Love letter” from a sex offender. He was transferred to another assignment after that.
Having said that, He was already in line to be moved to the major crimes unit, and that is what he got. Maybe my letter helped in some way.
And I might say, the officers that came after him were a lot nicer to me after that letter. (Maybe they wanted a letter too ) LOL
Nope, that letter was inspired by God and never got that inspiration again for another officer.
This goes further into the “Trap” to get us all back in jail or prison. The Person in charge of the offender task force, probably told his officers to do whatever it takes to get these scumbags back behind bars.
And yes, law enforcement will for sure lie on you to cover their own behinds. I saw it all the time when I was a L.E.O. It made me sick to entrap people into answering questions you are not required to.
Another reason I moved out of the city. When I lived in City limits, I got Sheriff’s office, City police and FDLE showing up at my door a couple times a week. Their tactics worked and I moved. But the joke is on them because I only get talked to twice a year now, usually the same guy.
If it were me I would lodge an official complaint (and follow up on it). The officers might get nothing more than a grudging reprimand, but you may be pleasantly surprised to hear a formal apology.
But that’s just my advice (for what it is worth).
What lawyer did you use? Because Jensen and Davis would have told you not to answer those questions.
It sounds like you are being investigated. And you should not have answered any question innocent or not. You have the right to remain silent and most of the time you should. Considering they will use any word you say against you.
I would recommend recording all interactions. I have a habit of keeping my phone in my hand whenever there’s a knock on the door and if it’s a cop or my PO, hold it up. Betting the encounter would have been completely different if you had.
Dustin
We have security cameras at our front entrance. When the officer tells me he is recording. I point to our security cameras and say “That’s ok, we are as well”. Once I was asked to step out into the yard. I asked “Am I under arrest? and he said he did not want to be filmed. I said “Just like you told me, if you don’t have anything to hide, what is the issue?”
I have never heard of ANYONE arrested for failure to answer police officer questions.
That’s kind of Fifth Amendment 101. Even the police know it. It’s an empty threat if I ever heard one.
Now, it’s possible one could be arrested in that situation, but not unless they were planning to arrest you anyway, answers or no.
Of course, probation officers are different. Their questions, you should answer, and answer truthfully.
And I am not referring to registration. In that case, what you must answer, and when you must answer them, are spelled out in law, and that does not include the situation above.
Jacob
From my former law enforcement days, like I said to another poster on here, a cop will lie to cover their behinds. If they arrest you for failing to answers their questions, that is not what the charge will state. They (some) will make up something like you threatened them or made an aggressive move towards them.
I always refused to go to court because I either had to also lie to cover the officer (Which I would not do) or have to say the officer was a liar which would have caused me to end up in a lake somewhere in the future, floating face down.
You would be surprised, especially in larger departments, the Mafia like groups that are formed amongst some officers. And no I am not talking about the movies, I mean in real life. I felt bad for the other officers in the Derek Chauvin case. They were in a dammed if you do and dammed if you don’t situation.
He was their superior and anything they did either way they were getting fired. Stop Chauvin and get demoted or fired, not do anything to help the situation and get fired and arrested. I was in that situation so many times I often had to go puke afterwards and had nightmares many times.
The rate of suicide for cops is higher than reported. The reason is, if you commit suicide, your family does not get your pension so cause of death is often marked as something else.
Yes He Is Violating The 4th And 5th Amendments Of The United States Constitution!
Personally, I think talking to law enforcement AT ALL puts you at significant and unnecessary risk.
If they did that to me I would have an attorney contact them and try to establish that they should not be talking to me or even coming near me or my family. I certainly would not be allowing law enforcement onto my property. If that didn’t work, I would sue them.
It is risky enough just be listed on the Registries, there is no need to add to the risk by ever interacting with law enforcement.
I’m also in Tallahassee. I haven’t had my visit yet, but I was thinking maybe you live within the city limits? Maybe there’s a new protocol with TPD to make their presence known? If you’re outside city limits and TPD is showing up, that would be weird to be outside their jurisdiction. Maybe another chat with your attorney is in order for clarification. Report your findings back here, of course…
I would like this agency to be contacted by your attorney and followed up on in this matter. We as a community need to get to the bottom of this.
It could be that TPD is running checks on registrants within city limits to alleviate numbers on LSCO. There’s one guy at the sheriff’s office making the rounds these days. He’s at least the third one in my 6 years here and I believe we just got a new police chief at TPD. A few visits back a detective came to my house asking a bunch of questions about my registration and his information didn’t line up so I called FDLE. I think they were trying to trip me up, but FDLE said not to worry about it because as long as nothing is changed that wasn’t reported there was nothing to worry about. So now I just tell them whatever is on your sheet is probably right, clarify it with FDLE. TPD can try to arrest you for not answering questions, but I would love to see what the charges would be and it probably just a scare tactic anyway. I’m not obligated to answer questions to the local police department who’s probably just flexing their muscles and making their presence known with no cause. It is a cause of concern the way some of these changes are implemented and I agree a follow-up with the attorney is probably in order. Someone needs to get to the bottom of this and who better than the person affected directly by this? Maybe FAC could make some phone calls?
I don’t know what offense they could have arrested you for. Nothing in F.S. 943.0435 requires you to answer any of those questions (only to respond to an address verification), and you have a Constitutional right to remain silent. I’m curious as to what would have been in the probable cause affidavit supporting the arrest, which the arresting officer must sign under penalty of perjury.
Police have almost complete immunity from civil liability, but one of the few things they can actually be sued for is arresting someone for a non-existent offense and knowingly falsifying a PCA.
In Miami-Dade County, when they verify your address they will not enter your home even if you invite them in (once it was raining hard and I asked them if they wanted to come inside and they said no, they cannot enter). They often don’t even come out of their vehicle or even ask for ID. They just do a quick driveby, I pop my head out the door, at that’s it.
That seems like a weird set of questions. None of the questions are required for registration. Email addresses used yes. Internet Service Provider? Closest living relative? By miles or by state? Seems like stupid questions designed to drum up arrest charges
They not only wanted the closest living relative’s name, but also their phone number. Talk about invasion of privacy! The relative is not on the registry!
Arrest on what offense? This is crazy.
Yeah – that seems downright peculiar to me.
Closest living relative? That doesn’t seem relevant to anything to do with being on probation or having to register unless they thought you were a flight risk. Kids names which may be around – maybe relevant…
Good thing you had a lawyer handy. Overall it could be an intimidation tactic they are using just to let you know they are under their thumb… ¯_(:/)_/¯
Do we or don’t we still have a 5th amendment right to remain silent?
Even if we had done something wrong then I should still have the right to remain silent.
To the poster…are you on probation?
He said “I am no longer on Probation. ” in his original post.
He clearly stated that he is no longer on probation.
The poster wrote: “I am no longer on probation.”