Anaheim has joined the growing list of cities across Orange County and California that suspended a ban that prevents sex offenders from entering city parks.
At the urging of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, the Anaheim City Council adopted an ordinance nearly two years ago that required registered sex offenders to stay away from parks. Full Article (Paywall)
We commend Anaheim for having the courage that the City of Orange lacks.
Janice:
True; I couldn’t believe the stone cold silence when the mayor of orange asked for a second on the motion to repeal their illegal ordinance. It’s frustrating!
Frustrating is an understatement. Add surreal, 1984 and a few other disturbing and polarized words to describe the disconnect between the constitution and the Jim Crowers acting like ostriches with their heads “buried in the sand” – and that’s being nice.
J: It’s disturbing to know that much of the population has an aversion to factual truth, and act’s in accordance with this aversion (they are victims of deception). When I read articles from the lame stream media I get the sense; very strongly, that there is a nationwide propaganda campaign aimed at keeping and expanding the ever increasing punitive measures aimed at us, as well as the general population, and the dismantling of the constitution and bill of rights. Much of this problem can be traced to the government funded groups like the California correctional peace officers association¹, a group… Read more »
I see another hope. The corrections officers are eventually shooting themselves in the heart of their quality of life by continually demanding harsher laws. The politicians say yah, yah, yah went it comes to incarcerating more people. But they say no, uh, uh, oh when it comes to building more prisons, especially if it is in their jurisdiction, or to making the existing ones safer. So the government instead goes shopping for these bargain basement private prisons, where pay is low, training is inadequate and conditions are more dangerous than in the state run facilities. It’s the Walmartization of the… Read more »
Apparently some politicians just don’t get the reason behind the ban. The mayor pro tem is insisting on drafting a resolution to send to the California legislature to create a presence restriction as a state law. http://anaheimblog.net/2014/06/19/anaheim-calls-for-legislative-fix-to-repeals-prohibition-on-sex-offenders-in-city-parks/ Did she NOT hear the session where Janice explained not only was the law unconstitutional, but would have NO BEARING on safety? Did she NOT hear the police chief’s testimony in which he said that enforcing restrictions would not only fail to to increase community safety, but would actually require him to expend more resources to enforce this law instead of REAL threats… Read more »
I don’t understand how the mayor pro term thinks she can alter the Constitution to change something that is unconstitutional, thus illegal, into something with no bearing on safety that suites her. The city attorney should refuse to do this on ethical grounds. I doubt the state legislators are going to take this seriously because the supreme court has already ruled these laws unconstitutional.
Let’s back up here… the ONLY reason the courts ruled the park ban unconstitutional is that they pre-empted state law. So if it becomes state law, no problem no more. Because any kind of restriction (i.e. residency restriction or prohibition to enter school property) is regulatory and is not ex post facto (Doe v Smith) it does not clash with the US Constitution, as long as it is state law, even if it becomes state law after the fact. So yes, a state law to this effect should be valid as long as Doe v Smith stands. Just like state… Read more »
Rest assured, that if this becomes state law through the legislature, the morning after the governor’s signature CA RSOL will most probably be filing against its enforcement through the same constitutional violation arguments, in the same way Prop 35 was challenged within 24 hours of passage of the initiative process. Just because the state does it dosn’t make it any less constitutional, though pragmatically it’s harder to reverse a state law than a municipal ordinance.
Thanks Joe; now I understand how these victories can be lost. I hope this doesn’t happen, but if it does we can at least know it will probably be challenged in the manner Eric points out.
How would they attempt to enforce this sort of law? Hire more cops. Of course. (at the same time raise taxes, print more money, cut other services (education???) or how?)
Council Adopts Mayor Pro Tem Murray Request To Prioritize Hiring of 40 Police Officers
http://anaheimblog.net/2014/06/13/council-adopts-mayor-pro-tem-murray-request-to-prioritize-hiring-of-40-police-officers/
The court case against the city of Orange should be a slam dunk for RSOL-CA. It will send another clear message DON’T MESS with the RIGHTS of people that have done their time and paid their debt. As the case gets closer to trial I’m sure they’ll re-dress the issue (in close session). This is their way of posturing for the public on the front end and opting out with grace on the back end (which is fine). Like with the city of Lancaster with all their tambourine bashing by passing their ban only later to repeal it in close… Read more »