UPDATE: FAC reached out to each county for hurricane procedures and you can find those responses HERE
News stations in South Florida are beginning to report on Tropical Storm Isaias, which could hit our state as soon as Saturday. We hope none of our members or loved ones will be impacted by the storm but the threat of a potential storm serves as a reminder that it’s hurricane season and you need to solidify your emergency preparedness well in advance, especially in light of COVID-19.
In the past, many counties have directed people on the registry to Jails to shelter during the storm. While that’s horrible on several levels, this year it is also wrong because jails are amplifiers of infectious diseases because social distancing is impossible and there is extremely limited access to personal protective equipment and sanitizing materials.
As we have encouraged in prior years, if you are on probation, contact your probation officer and ask whether you can stay at the home of a friend or relative in the event you are forced to evacuate or are homeless. If you are not on probation, you should contact the registration office in your County (the same place you go to re-register) and ask what arrangements are being made for those on the registry in the event of a natural disaster, especially in light of COVID.
If you are unsure of the contact information for your County registration office, or your plan involves evacuating to another county, you can find the appropriate contact information here: https://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/Documents/REREGISTRATIONLOCATIONS.pdf
It is important to remember that if you plan to evacuate your residence for three or more days, you will have an obligation to register, IN PERSON, wherever you are staying as a temporary residence within 48 hours before evacuating. You should also ensure that your expected evacuation location does not run afoul of any sex offender residency restrictions (SORRs) or you could expose yourself to arrest for simply being there.
We hope this storm passes, but please don’t wait until the last minute to plan.
UPDATE: FAC reached out to each county for hurricane procedures and you can find those responses HERE
FAC
With regard to my previous comment, here is the Conundrum:
Constitutionally, there are 2 schools of thoughts on this:
Strict Construction of the US Constitution and what is known as the Living Constitution
While to fully understand the aforementioned and to make a profound statement, one would have to conduct a complete analyses of the Historical Foundation of Both (which takes a lot of time and money unless pawned off to a bunch of Astute Law School Students who could conduct these analyses in full gratis; with Grant Monies of course!)
However, there is one SCOTUS Case that can lend US all a Hand:
Trop v. Dulles 356 U.S. 86; 78 S.Ct 590; while it is an 8th Amendment Case from 1958, it sheds light on what the legal school of thought processes should be…
“T]he words of the [Eighth] Amendment are not precise, and that their scope is not static. The Amendment must draw its meaning from the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.”
The Framers of Our U.S. Constitution always embraced what James Madison, one of the architects, has said….
“I entirely concur in the propriety of resorting to the sense in which the Constitution was accepted and ratified by the nation. In that sense alone it is the legitimate Constitution. And if that is not the guide in expounding it, there may be no security for a consistent and stable, more than for a faithful exercise of its powers. If the meaning of the text be sought in the changeable meaning of the words composing it, it is evident that the shape and attributes of the Government must partake of the changes to which the words and phrases of all living languages are constantly subject. What a metamorphosis would be produced in the code of law if all its ancient phraseology were to be taken in its modern sense.”
Remembering our History can actually assist Us in Our Fight for Freedom!
-Everyone, Stay Safe and Healthy!
I’d rather die in my home from a natural disaster than in a shelter (JAIL) by disease or at the hands of some self-righteous idiot.
Good Day B. Spragg
Most Legal Eagles rely on the codification of ‘Words and Terms’ per Black’s Law Dictionary which defines the word ‘DAY’ as, ‘A period of time consisting of twenty-four hours and including the solar day and the night.’
This is a mathematical and scientific FACT!
Therefore, any 24 hour sequence can be legally construed to be a ‘DAY’
However, the state of FLORI-DUH, seems to RE-DEFINE WORDS to fit THEIR Modus Operandi, which is Unconstitutional according to SCOTUS
Florida has defined day differently in responses to our lawsuits depending on how the response suits their case.
Please cite the US Supreme Court case that finds it Unconstitutional to redefine words, so that we can use it.
Can some one clarify for me Is a day a calendar day or a 24 hr period from departure?
That is one point that is vague and is one of the claims in Does v. Swearingen. The answer is; depends who you ask.
It was my understanding that this “day” business had been clarified by FDLE back in 2018:
https://floridaactioncommittee.org/fdle-responds-to-facs-request-for-clarification/
Let’s say you leave your town at 11am on a Sunday to go to a hotel in Tallahassee, and you return to your town at 8pm on a Wednesday. Sunday and Wednesday do not count since you weren’t at the hotel for those entire days. Only Monday and Tuesday count so you do not have to report to anybody to “establish a residence.”
Motel/Hotel hopping approved.
Actually 2 days here and two days there and two days somewhere else is acceptable no?
Sounds like a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ scenario. I have weathered out several storms in my home. I would invite registrants to my home for the storm but I live within 1,000 of our HOA tot lot. I’m ‘grandfathered’ but no one else would be. Maybe we would be given better consideration if we peacefully protested, looted a business or two, and burned a business down. As we have seen recently those people deserve special consideration.
Providing we are given advance notice (more than 48 hours) of a declaration of evacuation for a given county, and we know the precise path of the storm 48 hours beforehand to avoid the effects of the storm and another evacuation, a plan should be made with the assistance of a crystal ball. As someone in the high-risk group with numerous prescriptions and infections in both legs, jail is not an option, and In-Person registration is risky. I will stay home.
To clarify, leaving your residence for three or more days does not trigger an obligation to register. ESTABLISHING a residence for that time period does. So if you were to leave your residence for three days but reside one place followed by another before returning home, you would not register. (As always, your PO needs to know where you are).
Correct