With the more people coming to St. Augustine Beach, the police department thinks it’s time to consider a sexual offender ordinance. … “We’ve seen the crowds double in the past couple years, and the ordinance will protect both the residents and tourists,” Parker said. He also said the city needs to adopt a sexual offender ordinance because there have been two related incidents within their jurisdiction.
“Recently we had an incident on the beach with a guy who was using binoculars to watch girls,” he said. … “He turned out not to be a sexual offender, but that really drove home the need to have an ordinance,” Parker said. “We don’t want to delay it anymore.” …
Parker said there is only one other incident in recent years involving a sexual offender on the beach. There was an out-of-county man at the Splash Park a couple years ago who had failed to register as a sexual offender. Full Article
Florida ….. what more can be said?? *shakes head in disbelief & disgust*
The comments are interesting.
Writing a law for a problem that doesn’t exist?? Someone clearly has too much free time on his hands! (Note: The man in the beach watching girls with his binoculars was NOT an RSO and so his behavior would not be impacted one bit by this proposed law.)
‘Recently we had an incident on the beach with a guy who was using binoculars to watch girls,” he said. … “He turned out not to be a sexual offender, but that really drove home the need to have an ordinance,” Parker said. “We don’t want to delay it anymore.” …’
People like this Parker think if you are on this list, you are going to offend and if you are not on the list you aren’t. How stupid is this? Well, with 95% of the new sex offenses done by people NOT on the registry, the guy with the binoculars was decidedly more likely to be a sex offender than someone registered. I wouldn’t even get my trunks in a knot over that. The likeliest offenders are the parents and guardians on that beach. Let’s give them all a polygraph and genetic test before letting them on the beach. No, really, Florida might just do that.
If only this were possible…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiTM2HQ0g98
Dear Parker,
If you don’t want guys looking at the girls in swimsuits, why not an ordinance that bans swimsuits and/or immodest attire on the beach altogether? That will rid all the creeps with binoculars and sex offenders and solve your problem.
They should be less concerned about men with binoculars and more concerned about these filthy scoundrels at their precious Florida beaches. Better yet, ban Spring Break activities because this is not the first time nor will it be the last time this happens. FYI: Neither of the accused are registrants. And they’re young enough to have grown up under the “protect the children” umbrella, too. So what good would an ordinance do?
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/2-students-charged-in-Florida-spring-break-sex-6195147.php
Florida is a good state to avoid, even for those whom are not RC.
“If a sexual offender or predator goes to a park with no legitimate reason to be there and are exhibiting suspicious behavior, they can be questioned by law enforcement,” ~
So, if some non RSO “goes to a park with no legitimate reason to be there and are exhibiting suspicious behavior”, they get a high five, box of chocolates & a season pass? Sounds legit.