A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled today that the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department may continue to require in-person registration during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ruling was made during a telephonic hearing in response to ACOL’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order.
Although the judge noted that infection to COVID-19 is a “significant concern”, she interpreted state law requirements to obtain fingerprints and photos as to require that all registrants, including those at high risk due to age and/or medical condition, must register in person. She did not address the fact that the Los Angeles Police Department is currently registering individuals by phone only.
“The court’s ruling today shows a complete disregard for the lives of registrants and their families,” stated ACSOL Executive Director Janice Bellucci.
During oral argument, ACSOL stated that the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) is not equipped to protect registrants from a potentially fatal exposure to COVID-19. Therefore, denial of the TRO would be unconscionable and barbaric.
The sheriff’s department attorney stated during oral argument that LASC is “taking measures” to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in its stations. However, the attorney failed to provide any evidence related to those measures.
“The central argument made by the attorney representing the Department of Justice is that it would be difficult for the government to change current registration procedures,” stated Bellucci. According to that attorney, there are more than 500 law enforcement agencies that register individuals on a period basis.
Despite today’s ruling, a lawsuit filed by ACSOL that challenges in-person registration by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department continues. The lawsuit was filed on March 26 and is one of a total of five lawsuits filed in state court regarding the same issue. The lawsuits were filed against the City of Murrieta on March 23, against the City of San Diego on March 24, against the City of Sacramento on March 25, against the County of Los Angeles on March 26 and against the County of San Diego on March 27.
In addition, ACSOL filed a lawsuit in the California Supreme Court on April 1 against the Attorney General challenging the state form created by the AG which falsely states that in-person registration is required. The AG’s form is currently being used by all law enforcement agencies during the registration process.
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And this hearing was telephonic, I presume due to the pandemic. Ironic.
So, that means that I should go and register in-person at Van Nuys police department? Or it only applies to the Sheriffs department not LAPD?
Wow…how contradictory. This ruling was held via telephone due to infection and public safety concerns of spreading a disease. However, law enforcement employees, registrants as well as their families are put in a totally unnecessary, unreasonable and possibly a deadly situation all in the name of public safety due to the way “She” interpreted the law. Hopefully all encountered will stay safe.
😠 This is f****** unbelievable!!! 😠
We are free US citizens – just like any other American citizen!!! It is OUTRAGEOUS that we continue to be treated this way at nearly every turn!!! 😡😡😡
Which judge made this ruling?
First, I got angry. But now I’m amused ….. by this additional degree of irony: they don’t give a s*** about their own sheriff’s department officers, staff and families!! Because it would be just as easy for a COVID-19-infected Registrant to contaminate THEM ….. as it would be for a Registrant to become infected due to an in-person registration visit. Contagion flows both ways!!
Hope they take it home on their lunch boxes 🙂
The entrenched roots of a bad system not letting go. They dig in deep, refusing to allow reason to dictate and instead chose to believe in the image they blindly accepted. The image they sold to the public and to themselves.
oh boy… can this be appealed?
too funny ….I am sorry mr. …cough ..cough that i had the urge to lick my I.D this morning lol 🙂
Dearest Janice:
Good job today…I don’t mean this ironically, but sincerely. You job is hard, and I do not want you personally to be down over today’s ruling. This is the way law goes, you never know…you take a principled, smart and intellectually correct position….and hope that a judge is willing to go out on a limb and do the right thing.
There is no shame in being denied a request for extraordinary relief…I do understand what the judge is doing also…we, meaning you…and we love you for what you do for us, need to just keep beating on this door that eventually will fall down…because it is wrong.
So, a big thank you from me…and have yourself a gentle and good weekend.
Best Wishes, James I
Fingerprints and photos can be taken anywhere. I’ve seen police use a fingerprint device to ID people; camera’s are prevalent in society. “The central argument made by the attorney representing the Department of Justice is that it would be difficult for the government to change current registration procedures.” Is their difficulty above our safety?
I will find out how Ga enforces in-person registration in about 3 weeks, especially since my DCS officer and sheriffs officer (compliance checks) have called me on the phone vice in-person visits.
Well, this proves exactly what we have known all along. “The central argument made by the attorney representing the Department of Justice is that it would be difficult for the government to change current registration procedures.” Really, and how is it that the rest of the world was able to make necessary adjustments for the time being? People are working from home who never worked from home before (me included). Everything is possible, but I guess their department is incompetent. There is nothing else to it. The only department that is not capable of conducting their jobs when something like this happens. I rest my case.
Very sorry to hear this useless ruling!!!! Janice you a great defender for the people. Never give up or let anything bring you down. One day the tide will turn in your favor and for all the people you our fighting for!!! The judge that ruled this. Don’t care about the people. She is home and in a safe place. So it easy for her to make a deniable ruling. Cause she don’t have to face any offenders and risk getting sick. In my eyes that judge is a coward for not standing up and say we should hold off till this pandemic is over!! But no she a coward and will be in the eyes of all offenders and THEIR families. That judge is putting a lot of people in danger!! I would report her too the bar Association. Please be safe and stay home to all of you. Wash your hands and wear your masks. Vampire out.
The headlines in the next few weeks:
“In today’s news there has been an upsurge of Corona-virus outbreak throughout Los Angeles county affecting multiple officers in various police stations ranging from LAPD to the Sheriff’s Dept.”
“Thanks to Google and Apple analytics we discovered there has been a complete disregard to social distancing protocols practiced by our very own law enforcement.”
“Further investigation reveals that a certain segment of our population has to register in person at these police stations which triggered these new outbreaks despite our scientists’ projection of the curve flattening. What the scientists didn’t take into account in their projections was the stupidity of a single judge that made in-person registration mandatory.”
“This new outbreak will further delay reopening the state thereby costing billions that we don’t have already.”
“The judge cannot be reached for comment at this time…”
“Governor Newsom could be heard muttering something…’that b!+@h judge just cost me my re-election!”
So why not strike back and demand in-person court decisions?
If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander or some dumb shit.
And while we’re at it demand some covid-19 insurance when we are forced to show up and say…..yep I um……I still live at that address dumbass. So if we are to catch it while in registration mode the county or state will pay for hospital bills for those exposed to it, funeral bills if need be, and a substantial lump sum of money for the registrants immediate family.
Thank you Janice for your dedication and hard work on this matter.
When I go to register I’ll surely go and coughing sneezing and wiping my nose.
This outcome is the microcosm of how retributive the registry is.
Due to the COVID-19, ACSOL was on a phone conference with a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge about LA Sheriff’s Department continued requirement for in-person registration during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor had issued a “stay-at-home” order for all of California. Rather than treat registrants like citizens who have earned their freedom, they are still compelled under penalty of law to break the “stay-at-home” order for all Californian to continue to leave the home for an in-person registration. LA County PD is avoiding in-person registration and is using phone registration.
With COVID-19, any surface can have the virus survive up to 3 hours. With in-person registration, registrants usually have to wait in the lobby before being called into a separate room. The registrant will sit in the same seat and table across from the registrant officer. The registrant will also use the same stamp pad. ::: full stop ::: Will each registrant use a brand new stamp pad for the fingerprints? Or will each registrant take home that stamp pad to ensure no one else will *touch* that stamp pad?
Also, the paper the registrant must fill out will be kept together in a file that will be accessed by the clerks and others.
One registrant has died b/c of the COVID-19 because the registrant forgot to register. The judge and DA thought it was too drastic to put the registrant in jail for a “civil” violation, but still put the registrant in jail where the registrant got COVID-19.
I will posit this again. The current laws are systematically treating registrants as second class citizens and we have proof daily. LAPD bypasses in-person registration via phone registration, but LA Sheriff’s Dept requires in-person registration during this deadly pandemic. The potential death of a registrant isn’t valued like a free citizen because free citizens can “stay at home”. Registrants are only monsters and monsters can die without care.
Life for everyone gets suspended in this pandemic, unless you’re a registrant. The registry is supposed to be a scheme to know where a registrant is for any possible lineup. Doing phone registration is valid for one Law Enforcement agency in California, but not for another LE agency in California exposes the level of humanity that is placed upon registrants.
This practice is an example of cruel and unusual punishment. Remember, Jim Crow laws were legal at one point in America. LAPD sees registrants as humans to adhere to the Governor’s “stay-at-home” order, while LA Sheriff’s department sees registrants at monsters to compel free citizens to expose themselves to the pandemic virus because the law says so. No event can alter this in-person reporting if it cannot be altered for a pandemic. Monsters all, despite no longer under custody.
13th amendment: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
From wikipedia… “Involuntary servitude or involuntary slavery is a United States legal and constitutional term for a person laboring against that person’s will to benefit another, under some form of coercion other than the worker’s financial needs.”
From legal-dictionary… “The term involuntary servitude is used in reference to any type of slavery, peonage, or compulsory labor for the satisfaction of debts. Two essential elements of involuntary servitude are involuntariness, which is compulsion to act against one’s will, and servitude, which is some form of labor for another.”
We paid our debt to society already. In-person registration is the involuntariness service under penalty of law. In 2003 Smith v Doe, it was based upon the Alaska registry, which was a mail-in registration. In 1958, California ruled in-person re-registration was quasi-criminal under Kelly v Municipal.
We aren’t humans to LA Sheriff’s department. That is just one of many jurisdictions.
I’m not surprised when I first heard about registering by phone I thought yeah right there’s no way im taking that chance ..
Remember when you do your monthly or annual registration the paperwork says it’s up to you to know the law’s you must follow current or as they might have change.
So it doesn’t matter who’s at fault the responsibility falls on you.
So even if I was told over the phone that i dont need to register in person im gonna need that put in writing with a stamp of the police department who is imposing this then I’d make copies one for my lawyer and one to keep on my person incase I’m stop by LE and there’s some non-compliant issues ..
Its sad and unfair that were not seen as human beings in Society and long as your labeled a sexofender you’ll never be that’s the harsh reality we have to accept
And far as the Sheriff’s Department goes those are the guys who work in the County jails and are responsible for 80% of violent attacks on sexofenders in custody iv seen it first hand they’ll put sexofenders in general population for a week and pretend it was a mistake ..so not only must you watch your back from inmates but from the sheriff’s as well.
So I’m not surprised at all LE will never loosen their grip on sexofenders if anything there gonna tighten it remember people this whole system was designed for us not to function in Society they’ll say and do whatever it takes to get you off the street and back in custody…
Thank you again Janice for all you do for us!!!! Stay healthy!!
Meantime, I guess the judge in this case just wanted to cover her a$$. She did not want to be the one to allow all these “monsters” to roam around unaccounted for – “I’ll let someone else make that decision”. Ah – but this may backfire on her though!!
This is a perfect example of how crazy this registration issue really is!!
Quick question about the AG’s form – does the form attempt to gather more information than is forced by law?
In Georgia, I think that all of the law enforcement criminal agencies try to operate outside of the law. I’ve not seen one yet that is capable of following the law. They ask for truly moronic information that has nothing to do with their lies about public safety. Like a person’s marital status. Or if the person smokes or drinks. Just a bunch of idiocy.
It’s like they can’t help themselves, they just must operate outside of the law. It’s what pathetic, low self-esteem control freaks have to do apparently.
While I completely appreciate the efforts taken by ACSOL to protect former citizens and their families, as well as the police who have to register us, I would never in a million years trust the police department to honor a telephone registration.
Just as I take my chances going to work and the store, I will take my chances with in-person registration. If I catch this, I will not be able to get help, so I will probably infect the police, my family and my coworkers and then I will die. That is just the cycle of life. We die.
My life is not that great anyway and I am surely not going to make any extra effort to protect a police officer so she can continue her great life as I suffer through mine.
If they do not like the idea of catching Chinese Bat Soup Flu from a sex offender, they should have thought about that before they became police officers.
Per instructions [cough, cough, into hands] I’m here to [sneeze into hand] register. [Deep hacking cough into hands]. Here are my [cough towards forms in hand] forms.
Thanks for trying Jance.. We are still behind you
Here is an article
Texas Judge Set To Order State To Allow All Voters To Request Mail-In Ballots
umm No to RC but okay for the general public not to go to a building to do whatever they need to do
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/15/835515753/texas-judge-set-to-order-state-to-allow-all-voters-to-request-mail-in-ballots
The new headline should be “Judge allows L.A. county to spread Covid-19 through Registered Sex Offenders”. Shameful…