LAKESIDE, Calif. — Lakeside residents gathered at Riverview Elementary School Wednesday to express their outrage over the amount of convicted sex offenders near the schools.
Both parents and school board members said they want to be more informed about sex offenders in the area and also more blanket restrictions surrounding them living near schools, parks and bus stops. There used to be state restrictions that prohibited registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools and parks where children gathered. Jessica’s Law was overturned in 2015 after the state Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional because it severely restricted a sex offender’s ability to find housing.
The Lakeside group protesting Wednesday wants to see a similar restriction return. They also want more communication and transparency with local school boards and parent groups.
Perhaps it’s time for another letter to these individuals and the media like what happened a month or so ago in Northern California….
Notice not one instance referenced in the article; just a bunch of fear based on would could happen. A solution running around looking for a problem.
And this is from Lakeside the Meth Capital of California
ACSOL is closely watching what is happening in Lakeside. Unlike Fairfield in northern CA, these residents are not picketing outside the homes of registrants. If they take that path, ACSOL will send a strongly worded letter warning them that they are breaking the law and identifying potential civil and criminal penalties for such conduct. If Lakeside adopts the residency restrictions that have been requested, then ACSOL will sue them.
These people are asking for more communication and transparency. What they really need is more education regarding [people with former convictions] and where the true dangers to children actually lie. It might be useful to make a presentation at the next school board meeting, if they would have it.
It doesn’t appear that there was a groundswell of outraged citizens at the event. The video shows only four persons holding signs and one spokesperson.
I responded to the author of the segment on News 8, Chris Gros, as follows:
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Recently, you and your colleague Katy Stegall did a segment on Lakeside residents and board members who were not happy with registered sex offenders living at a halfway house near them. Their primary goal is to remove the registered sex offenders by implementing a 2000-foot residency restriction buffer that was deemed unconstitutional in 2015.
Segment: https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/lakeside-community-concerned-sex-offenders-near-elementary-schools/509-30ada5b3-338a-4536-8d61-fcb2489f154b
In fact, many cities around the state have been sued by an organization called “Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL).” The Executive Director, Janice Bellucci, has been on the forefront of many of these lawsuits, which have resulted in all city councils removing the restrictions. In fact, the restrictions actually make the communities LESS secure because restrictions greatly reduce the options of registered sex offenders in their residence, their employment, education, and travel opportunities, even those who are completely free of the court system.
While we understand the concern for these parents and board members, we recognize that by restricting former offenders from their ability to fully re-integrate into society (with some non-invasive limitations, obviously), it makes the community as a whole MORE dangerous. This has been proven time and time again with statistics and analyses from peer-reviewed professional papers to DOJ crime charts.
What I propose is for you to contact Janice herself (you can search online and YouTube for her many, many court appearances and interviews) to discuss the “other” side of the coin. She will explain precisely why the effort by Lakeside to restrict the residence of registered sex offenders will ultimately create a more corrosive situation with not just Lakeside, but the San Diego metropolitan area as a whole.
Janice Bellucci, and ACOL contact information including addresses and phone numbers, can be obtained at the following link: https://all4consolaws.org/contact-us/ The entire site also contains a plethora of information with regard to sex offender issues and legal information.
Thank you for your time. (NOTE: I am not affiliated with ACSOL, just as a contributor
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I’ll monitor the response if I get one, as I had no telephone contact for Chris. I didn’t want to throw on stats and whatnot in this email as that can be communicated later if this News 8 journalist wanted to pursue this more thoroughly.
This is just getting out of control. Registry must stay off-line. No one is ever going to be happy with people on the registry being in neighborhoods. It’s all part of punishment, nothing else
Didn’t the Ca supreme court years ago ruled these restrictions unconstitutional?