VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. —A new ordinance in Volusia County has resulted in an increase among the homeless sex offender and predator population on the streets.
Deputies aren’t just checking on suspects, they’re surprising convicted sex offenders. However, the deputies don’t know where to look if the offenders are homeless and not showing up for check-ins.
Nearly 1,000 offenders live in the county, and they’re subject to strict laws and quarterly compliance checks.
If they’re homeless, they have to check in more frequently.
Brandon Goggin with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office explains that homeless offenders have to physically come for their checks. If they don’t, it can be trickier to find them.
“They are required to come in every 30 days to complete a registration,” Goggin said.
Current state laws require sex offenders and predators to live 1,000 feet or more away from a school. A new ordinance in Volusia County increases that distance to 1,500 feet.
County Councilman Don Dempsey says it’s backfiring.
“What it has led to is more transient registered sex offenders in our area,” Dempsey said. “It’s kind of alarming we have that many.”
State data shows Volusia County ranks ninth out of 67 for the most homeless sex offenders.
Dempsey asks local shelters to start taking in sex offenders, something they currently don’t do.
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Floriduh, where sanity and common sense go to die.
Excellent. I embrace their misguided authoritarianism. Because after all why would we want, effective policies?
” It’s alarming there are so many.” What did you think was going to happen? Making more cities off limits due to residency restrictions ( which don’t work), making employment harder to gain, and labeling everyone on the registry a current threat only causes more problems. Not in our backyard has caused this and it’s time for a different mindset. Your lack of awareness due to your blindness is more alarming.
We saw what happened in California with the registry restrictions it led to them having to limit it only to people on parole and it sparked talks of an actual tiered registry system.
The Olympics are coming to LA so they been knocking down homeless encampments all over LA county, the city is offering all kind of problems to get people off the streets you can even smoke weed and drink at some of these problems,
The only recommendation is you cat be on the registry and they ask you before they even start the process, and the really nice homelessness shelters like the ones near the beach you have to get a referral from the local police department in order to stay there, So people forced to register are just left out there on the streets.
If your on the registry and you own your home your lucky because trying find a place to stay while on the registry is hard as Hell and when you do find someone that will rent to you now you gotta worry about your neighbors harassing you it’s it just never ends.
I’m still wondering why nobody asked the council exactly how many sex crimes were committed by registrants who resided 1001 – 1499 feet from the restricted zones that made the ordinance “necessary.”