HuffPost obtained 37 arrest reports, the overwhelming majority of which show law enforcement officers arresting people for minor technical parole violations.
Every year on Halloween, law enforcement agencies throughout the country conduct thousands of random checks on people who are required to register as sex offenders. The sweeps, called “Operation Boo,” typically result in a handful of arrests, which cops tout as evidence of their utility in protecting children from would-be predators.
The press has dutifully spread this message: “For the 26th year, ‘Operation Boo’ Keeps Sex Offenders In Check,” the San Diego Union Tribune wrote in 2019, with an image of a police officer holding a seized bong. “Operation Boo Nabs Three Sex Offenders On Halloween,” the Redding Record Searchlight wrote in 2022. “On Halloween, Some States Take Extra Safety Measures To Keep Sex Offenders Away From Kids,” CNN that year.
The press releases announcing arrests from Operation Boo rarely specify the cause of arrest, leaving the reader to assume the charges were related to sexual misconduct or child endangerment.
Last year, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced that after conducting nearly 2,000 compliance checks, 53 people were “found out of compliance” with the terms of their parole, 43 of whom were arrested.
When I asked CDCR what parole violation each of the 53 people had committed, information officer Mary Xjimenez told me to submit a public information request. Because such requests are limited to specific existing documents, I asked for the arrest reports of the 43 people who were arrested.
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Over the course of seven months, CDCR provided me with 37 arrest reports, stating that the remaining individuals were either arrested by another law enforcement agency or were released by the jails, resulting in no arrest records. None of the reports described physical or sexual abuse of children or adults. Only three cases even vaguely suggested wrongdoing.
Typical police capitalizing on their fearmongering tactics. It’s always money money money…
They should arrest themselves based upon the stats of those in positions of trust before they do something.