MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Starting next year, the Long Island-based group Parents for Megan’s Law will begin monitoring the online activities of Nassau County’s registered sex offenders.
The monitoring will include tracking posts on Facebook and Twitter and forwarding leads to police, Newsday reported. Full Article
Hmm… if they did this in California, it’d be considered a form of stalking, which also happens to be a register-able office, as it is considered yup.. a sex crime.
And our constitution continues to get shredded before our eyes. Absolutely revolting.
Well, it sounds like a form of vigilante-ism.
1)If the offenders were committing new crimes, the police would already be arresting them.
2)The net effect of this groups activity is: to try to drive offenders out of their “back yard” and into somebody else’s.
3)If offenders are that much of a problem for the community, then whenever a house there is sold, the buyer should be given a full disclosure of all the sex offenders living there. If that lowers property values and kills sales, so be it. It is a material fact that sellers should inform prospective buyers about.
This non-profit isn’t doing this for free either! I read an article about this some time ago and it stated the amount the group would receive in another area. It’s a lot! This group is still “negotiating.” This is paying the vigilantes to stalk and harass!
This has indeed been in the news. See here
http://www.npr.org/2013/08/24/214925854/n-y-county-outsources-the-job-of-monitoring-sex-offenders
The contract, as approved, calls for a 3 year period of $900,000 each year. See here (top of Page 3)
http://legis.suffolkcountyny.gov/Resos2013/i1125-13.pdf
Maybe with that money PFML can put up a web site that does not look like it is from 1999?
Perhaps not, given that PFML Ex. Dir. Laura Ahearn’s salary was $120,000 per year the past few years for…. not exactly sure what they do. Or have done in the past, because now they will be acting as pseudo law enforcement. Surely with added responsibilities the Ex. Director’s salary is going to go up. We’ll find out…
But, as always, griping about it on the internet is not going to change a thing….
This sounds like a great idea! Maybe they can burn crosses, post signs on the wrong lawn or accidentally get someone shot! Honestly , I’m hoping one of this over zealous parents/neighbors breaks the law and somebody sues both the individual and law enforcement. I can just imagine this happening. Or, someone might end up falsifying information or providing misguided information. This is definitely an ACLU suit 🙂
I would think that these people would be much easier to sue than the city. They had better watch what they do.
Incredible. This waste of time and resources stems from the myth that sex offenders will always re-offend. Absolute crap; sex offenders actually have some of the LOWEST re-offend rates. (Check the Dept. of Justice stats if you doubt it.) These vigilante “public safety” groups should be tracking convicted drug dealers; they have the highest re-offend rates and nobody seems to mind if they are making lots of “friends” on Facebook.
If I were one of the people being “monitored”, I sure as hell would give them something they would not enjoy reading. Every single day. And everything important or personal would be encrypted. And I could completely see myself setting up 10 Facebook accounts and running automatic bots to post random stuff to all of them day and night. It would be fun.
F these criminal regimes and the terrorists who support them. They are enemies of good Americans.
Let’s take this to an extreme. What if a registrant gets accounts and posted “questionable” crap on it all the time, like “I dressed like the Easter Bunny and walked past the daycare” or some similar parody posts? Of course, we STILL have a first amendment, and as long as such posts can be written by NON-registrants and not be considered a terrorist or criminal threat, than anyone can write it. A few hundred of these posts would result in some serious tieups in the investigation department.
I don’t normally advocate such action, but this is beyond the pale and needs to be addressed with reverse-vigilante force.
This group of notorious sex offender haters is paid by Suffolk County to stalk free citizens and harass them. Not only the registrants but also friends and family members. They provoke the rest of the public to do the same. They are creating an app for the public to report suspicious sex offenders behavior to police. What the hell is suspicious behavior for a sex offender? Is it different than for someone else? They are egging the public on to join in with this hatred and abuse. The web site is a big lie and this is a group of racketeers. She axploits children and does not give a crap about all the children she is hurting. Ahearn cheated on her first husband then slept her way up to her next husband to get what she wanted. Adultery is a sex offense. She uses sex in every way imaginable and yet SHE is not considered a sex offender? How the hell is the State of NY allowing this unlawful activity? A sex offender being paid with tax payer dollars to stalk x-sex offenders, AND does not have to tell anyone what their methods are either! If anyone else did this they would be put in jail! The County officials should be put behind bars who gave her this authority and pay her and her minions to unlawfully stalk people. This Community Protection Act is all about arresting people who have been convicted of a sex offense in their past. They publicly brag about being able to do this and are not arrested for it?? Now Nassau County is going to start dishing out tax payer dollars to this “NON PROFIT” group also??? I guess the budgets aren’t as bad as we’re told. WTH!
How about a little reverse watching? A few registrants could follow the followers and record what they are doing. Let’s post every detail about where they go and who they meet. License number of their vehicles, photos of them,anything we can see publicly for all to see. Also some FOIA requests to see how our public money is being spent. Let’s shine the light on them and see how they enjoy it.
If they are being paid for stalking XSO’s then XSO’s should be paid to watch them!
but when did is become lawful for the government to “track” (stalk) citizens?
I can’t help but wonder how a “non-profit” can accept money for this. Even have a contract. If they are earning payment, are they still non-profit ???
If it was not a punishable or unlawful offense for someone convicted of sex charge not to register as a “sex offender” or register his address, or other info, when he was convicted 30 years ago, and it is now – how is that not retroactive punishment?