Polk county > Message To Predators: Stay Away from Our ki Message To Predators: Stay Away from Our Kids!Polk County has made the message unmistakably clear to sexual offenders and sexual predators:
Stay away from our kids!
At the urging of Sheriff Grady Judd, the county commission adopted an ordinance that forbids persons designated as sexual offenders or sexual predators from living:
€ Within 2,500 feet of a school, daycare center, public park, or library.
€ Within 1,000 fee of a designated school bus stop or a church.
The requirements do not apply to people presently living too close to a designated facility, but will apply when they move to a new address, Judd said. It also exempts a violator who was charged as a minor not tried as an adult.
“Access to children is a prime motivator . . . to committing additional crimes,” he said.
Florida law already imposes some limitations on violators, but many cities and counties are adopting more stringent provisions.
Unlike most county ordinances, which apply only outside of the city limits of Polk's 17 municipalities, this ordinance applies throughout the county, unless a city wishes to opt out.
Judd said he didn't want to create a situation where cities were chasing violators into unincorporated areas, or vice versa, or where Polk County became a haven for violators from other counties.
“We already have too many of our own,” he said. “Even one would be too many.”
The state and the county puts violators names and photographs on law enforcement web sites, “but we didn't think that was enough,” Judd said. “We need to know where sexual predators and offenders are at all times. There's a litany of things they have to do.”
The Polk County sheriff's office has a unit with a sergeant, two full-time detectives, two part-time detectives, and an analyst who keep track of offenders and predators.
They make quarterly checks “to verify they are living where they say they should be,” Judd said.
“We will monitor their every move, and if they trip up, we're going to put them back in jail.
“It is zero tolerance on sexual predators and offenders when they violate any laws. Sexual predators don't change their habits.
“We have an obligation to keep the people of Polk County safe.
“There are numerous cases of sexual offenders reoffending. Over 80 percent of adult rapists admit that they have assaulted children.
“They're scary folks.”
Polk County presently has 986 residents who are designated as sexual offenders, of whom 99 carry the label of sexual predators.
Of that number, 295 are under the supervision of probation and parole officers, and 79 offenders and 16 predators currently are in the Polk County jail.
“We know where they are,” Judd said.
A sexual offender is anyone with one conviction of any sexual crime committed against an adult or a child, he said.
A sexual predator is a person certified as such by a circuit judge for the crime of sexual capital battery or a life sentence crime or first degree felony after Oct. 1, 1993, or any crime of a sexual nature after that date, or any offender adjudged to be a “sexually violent predator” as defined by law.
Sexual crimes include sexual battery, lewd and lascivious behavior, and similar offenses.
“We have the opportunity to keep the children safer,” Judd said. “When we work together, we can reduce the probability a child being a victim again.
“It's another piece in the war against the predator and the offender.”
Commissioner Jack English asked how predators operating on the Internet would be affected by the ordinance.
Judd replied that the PCSO is monitoring the Internet, and that crimes committed by sexual predators are felonies. Violators are classified as offenders or predators after their release from prison.
The ordinance passed by unanimous vote.
http://www.polkcountydemocrat.com/articles/2006/09/19/news/01predators.txt
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