Source: floridaactioncommittee.org 11/18/21
I was at the registration office and due to COVID was told to sit outdoors, a ways back from where the glass intake door is. You cannot hear what is going on there, but you can see as you sit and wait in line. As I waited, I saw that the man that was registering was escorted inside the glass door and placed in handcuffs. And I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. I felt as if a brother in our cause was being imprisoned… again. So much so that I turned to the other person waiting and said, “Did you see that?”
He nodded and said it will probably happen to him, too. I asked why and he said he missed his registration by one day, that he does not have a car and so arrived late when the office was already closed. By then it was my turn and I went up and as I sat the detective asked that man what was he was here for, because it was close to lunch, and she needed to know. The man said he missed his registration day and asked was he going to be arrested? The detective answered not sure and told him to remain where he was and then turned to me and asked the reason I was there. I told her and then asked her, in a low voice so the other man would not hear, whether the prior person arrested was for missing registration day and whether this other man would be arrested as well. She nodded yes.
So, they were arrested for failure to register on time? While the registry is a joke, this is on the registrants, themselves. You’re given a 10-day window and if you’re not responsible enough to figure out how to make it to the PD during that window, then you’ve got bigger problems to worry about. Most registrants find it important enough to comply, even if you don’t agree with the whole registry scheme. (Which we all agree, should be abolished) Saying he was late because of not having a car is a lame excuse. Again, there’s a 10 day window…not 1 day.
For every registrant who messes up, even for something as ridiculous as this, it just adds to the perception that registrants are bad. It’s a shame, because it’s a small number, but they make it more difficult on the rest.
Where I live you call and make an appointment by such a date. I know some places only certain people do the registry and at certain times, so I wouldn’t put all the blame on the person forced to register. The entire system boggles common sense.
This is just more proof that the registry is about re-punishment instead of public safety. While we know there is no enhancement to public safety for the registry at all, if we assume for a second that there is a benefit to public safety by having the registry as the registry creators claim how, this will have the opposite affect and decrease public safety. Someone who is willingly attempting to comply and register, even if late is trying to contribute to the so called public safety goal of knowing where a registrant is. If you are going to be late and without a doubt would be arrested for this, what exactly is the incentive to ever report if you miss the deadline? And if you never report in because you’ll be arrested anyway, how does this enhance public safety? Actively tracking down and arresting people failing to register on time is one thing but arresting someone who is now making an effort to meet the public safety goal by showing up on their own and getting themselves compliant – and then getting arrested for that is quite another. The fact that anyone thinks such an arrest is acceptable at all is not looking for enhancing public safety even in the slightest but only has the goal of finding another punishment for the same crime.
Registry is like a P.O.S. car, no matter what you do it’ll always will look awful even with duct tape. Time to trade in and take the P.O.S. car to the junkyard for crushing never to be seen again.