Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz has backed out of spearheading a
”
grass roots
”
committee to inform residents living near registered sex
offenders of their presence. De La Cruz said he was informed by
County Counsel Claude Biddle that such a committee would not pass
constitutional muster.
Hollister – Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz has backed out of spearheading a “grass roots” committee to inform residents living near registered sex offenders of their presence. De La Cruz said he was informed by County Counsel Claude Biddle that such a committee would not pass constitutional muster.
De La Cruz’s crusade against sex offenders began last month with a proposed county ordinance that would require landlords who rent property within one mile of a school or park to determine whether their tenants are registered sex offenders – a proposal Biddle also said would be unconstitutional.
De La Cruz then said he planned to form a committee that would inform anyone living near a known sex offender about their presence while “monitoring” every sex offender in the county listed on the Megan’s Law Web site.
District Attorney John Sarsfield said he sent Biddle an e-mail, which was copied to Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller and County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson, informing Biddle of his concern that De La Cruz’s actions could be construed as vigilantism. Sarsfield agreed that the supervisor’s actions would be unconstitutional.
“My objection was I was afraid if a county officer got involved in a lynch mob, I needed to bring it to the appropriate attention. It’s an extremely reckless and dangerous thing to do,” Sarsfield said. “I understand people’s frustration with sex offenders. Having said that, it is wholly and completely inappropriate for a county supervisor to self-deputize as some sort of enforcer of the law and to round up a lynch mob to go visit people at their homes.”
De La Cruz has instead decided to talk to local lawmakers and attempt to address the problem in a different and less obtrusive way.
“My hands are tied, so I’m going to pull back on it and see how we can address it on the state level,” De La Cruz said. “Next year during budget talks maybe we can allocate more money to the sheriff’s department for crime prevention. We can help (Sheriff) Curtis Hill with more funding – that would probably be a better idea.”
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
