INDIANAPOLIS — There are more than 18,000 sexual or violent offenders living in Marion County, more than half of which were convicted and sentenced from out-of-area, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
As part of the office’s efforts to drive down the number of sex offenders in the community, the sheriff’s office conducted a sweep Wednesday morning near Brookside Park.
The Sheriff’s Office says 34 registered sex offenders live within a half mile of there.
“That is a ridiculous number to be in that neighborhood,” said Sheriff Kerry Forestal.
Two suspected sex offenders were arrested during the sweep which took place in the neighborhood on the city’s Near Eastside.
“The sweep was necessitated by the fact that thirty-four sexual or violent offenders reside within a half-mile radius of Brookside Park, sixteen of whom were convicted outside of Marion County,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release provided after the sweep was completed.
Marion County Sheriff’s Capt. Mitch Gore told WRTV that the sweep was pre-planned and took several hours to complete. The sweep was given the name “Operation Watchful Eye.”
The operation was conducted close to where a woman was fatally shot early Wednesday — but that investigation was handled by the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and was unrelated to the sheriff’s office’s sweep.
More than 40 members of the sheriff’s office, including its sexual and violent offender registry, K-9, warrant, intelligence and criminal investigations units; reserve division; and executive staff.
The two people arrested included one who was wanted on a warrant of juvenile rape and molestation charges and another who was arrested on suspicion of failing to register as a sex offender.
In addition to the arrests, the sheriff’s office completed 34 compliance checks. Of those checks, 20 people were verified to be compliant with registration requirements and three are suspected to be non-compliant.
The sheriff’s office also attempted to serve five warrants for sexual offenses.
There are currently 1,825 sexual or violent offenders living in Marion County, 52% of which were convicted and sentenced from another state or another county, according to the Sheriff’s Office. That figure is up from 42% a year ago.
“We had two people here from Idaho. Why did somebody from Idaho decide to relocate and come here. Put our wives, daughters, grandchildren in danger,” Forestal said.
What morons! I can’t wait for the Registries to collapse, so these a**wipes can go back to ordering double-glazed with sprinkles
“Operation Wasteful Eye” is a more appropriate name for their operation. Law enforcement is just perpetuating this Registry Scam to misdirect the community’s vigilance from actual sexual predators hidden in plain sight so more sex crimes could occur for the cops to go after.
It’s a win/win for them and politicians too – so they can keep their jobs at the expense of the community and the defiled innocence of children and women.
This same prejudice has been heard throughout American history: “Those damn [insert people group here] are moving into our nice neighborhood, raising crime levels and ruining property values!” It is ironic that some of those same people groups that have been dehumanized are saying the same thing about registrants. It seems an easy way to feel better about yourself is to dehumanize others.
It seems that any people groups with power in each generation are so emotionally immature that they are all susceptible to fearmongering, like children hiding under blankets to hide from the imaginary monsters.
I love our Sheriffs of Nottingham. Very nice guys, super Christian.
This part is hilarious:
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“Hoosier hospitality is important, but not at the expense of the safety of Marion County residents,” Marion County Sheriff Kerry Forestal said in a written statement.
</blockquote>
Dearest Sheriff Kerry Forestal: Please go f*ck yourselve. Please arrange for your entire family to f*ck themselves.
“Hoosier hositality”. That’s a joke, right? Indiana is a cesspoll of backwards dumbasses. Just take a lot at the scumbags and their politics.
Having said that, I have family that live in that trash state. I’ll be visiting them plenty often. But I won’t be allowing scumbags like Kerry Forestal to harass my family.
Folks – it is vitally important that you never support law enforcement. They should be de-funded in every way possible. Shrink them until they must focus on actually preventing and solving very serious, violent, harmful crimes. Vote for people who believe in limited government and a free America. We need to end these harassers.
So out of all that you have one person that had a warrant for a sex offense,of which they would know that anyway. Otherwise not a single one of these “Registered or Violent Offenders” has committed a crime. And it is laughable that they try to somehow link the violent murder with a gun to “the area where they live.” Yeah, and we know none of them had anything to do with it or it would have been in the headlines, oh, and it appears that that murder with a gun is still unsolved, now why would that be? Maybe because they have the entire force, including K-9’s, out harrrassing people who didn’t do a crme and are just trying to live a peacful life, but that is not possible with the oppressive and punitive registry.
How many were set-up via stings via the internet and how many were hands on ordeals. I’m sure if one does a study you will find that internet type operations out weight the physical hands on encounters. Wow sitting on ones butt and snagging (duping) one into all this. Sounds like good moral behavior to me for police to do these ordeals. That is blind Justice with a capital J.
It should at least be something ironic like operation fluffy bunny.
This psycho needs to be sued big time!!!
You wanna really piss the sheriff off? Buy or rent the house right next door to him.
I just wanna be a human being again been dealing with sheriff’s and PD like these assholes since i was 18 years old, my whole adult life I’ve been constantly chased down tagged and released like a wild animal after 23 years I’m starting to feel like one
The key thing to realize is “SOR” was intended to divide the people. Hence both parties, Ds&Rs, were united in their determination to utilize the DDI to render division among the people. What is gained for the federals by authorizing State’s to “lawfully” indenture their citizens to the machines upkeep for life without process? Unfettered use by the feds Byrne Grant types!
“In an effort to drive down the numbers……” So much for civil intent!
This is a doozy, isn’t it? I would guess that there are some real lawsuit possibilities here. The State of Indiana presumably doesn’t have laws on the books stipulating “maximum” number of legally registered “sex offenders” (nor could they) nor prohibiting those from out-of-state (also not Constitutional), yet the local constabulary decided that they had too many and have embarked upon a campaign of harassment and intimidation to uproot legally compliant citizens from their homes and Indiana, as a whole, providing a clear nexus between the practice of “compliance checks” and systematic intimidation of law-abiding citizens. This just screams “lawsuit.”
Janice?
Most states have a section under their SORA providing that no one may use any information listed about a registrant in any way to harm them (or something to that effect). But when it’s officials who do it, they are always above that law!
This is actionable, and a class action is justified. Remember, the registry is supposed to be REGULATORY, not PUNITIVE, and this overt admission by a public law enforcement official can, and should, be redressed in court with substantial financial penalty.
Another government official who thinks that they get to choose who who is allowed to live in “their” community.
I say sit back and let this sheriff and all other sheriffs around the country run their mouths and keep spewing hate against us. Let them keep trying to run us out of their towns. Why? Because it demonstrates how the registry is punishment. What this sheriff wants to do is basically banish us, which is punishment plain and simple.
When people start filing more lawsuits they can include that in their complaints to prove to the courts how punitive registries really are.
Don’t get mad, get even.
I kind of agree with the “Sheriff”. I don’t know why ANYONE would want to live in the same county as this moron. And if I had the choice, I would live elsewhere. Who wants to be subjected to such idiocy? I feel the pain of those that find themselves trapped within his jurisdiction.