Local Senator Jeff Denham introduced a bill last week that would
require certain convicted child molesters to be kept on an
electronic leash for 20 years after being released from prison.
Hollister – Local Senator Jeff Denham introduced a bill last week that would require certain convicted child molesters to be kept on an electronic leash for 20 years after being released from prison.
“The goal is to make sure our streets are safe,” Denham said, adding that there are nearly 30,000 sex offenders currently not accounted for in California. “I would prefer they stay in jail for life, but if they are going to be released they should be monitored.”
Local police claim keeping tabs on sex offenders is a difficult and time consuming job, and several support Denham’s effort.
The bill, SB 1313, specifically targets anyone convicted of molesting a child under the age of 12, Denham said. Convicted sex offenders would be required to wear a GPS ankle bracelet that would track their movements, but just who would monitor the felons has not yet been decided, said Stacey Hendrickson, a spokeswoman for the senator.
The third-year senator who is up for reelection this year introduced a similar bill last year that would have required lifetime tracking of sex offenders, but it was defeated in the Senate Public Safety Committee. San Benito County District Attorney John Sarsfield, a supporter of the bill, expects someone to challenge Denham’s most recent legislative effort on Constitutional or privacy concerns, but said electronic monitoring isn’t excessively invasive.
“It’s not unreasonable, it’s like wearing a watch,” he said. “And those people tend to have a very high recidivism rate. It’s nice to know where they are at times when new crimes are committed because it allows law enforcement to concentrate its limited resources on actual suspects and eliminate those (sex offenders) who weren’t in the area at the time.”
The new bill is modeled after Jessica’s Law in Florida, which was named after 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford. Police believe Lunsford was sexually assaulted and buried alive by John Couey, a convicted sex offender who had recently moved without notifying authorities.
San Benito County Sheriff Curtis Hill has been watching Denham’s bill closely and is hoping that it becomes law posthaste. Hill said many sex offenders simply cannot be released without becoming a danger to the public.
“Most people want them locked up for life,” he said. “Most of them aren’t cured when they get out and people don’t want them hanging around our schools or community centers.”
Hill said the bill would bolster local law enforcement’s efforts to track down sex offenders and benefit all county residents.
“If we can track them, it makes the entire community safer,” he said. “People want, and need, to know where these molesters and predators are.”
The Hollister Police Department routinely checks up on registered sex offenders living in the city, but Public Information Officer George Ramirez said many predators slip into the city undetected.
“It’s impossible to track the ones who come here from other counties and cities,” he said. “Our efforts can only go as far as tracking the sex offenders who have registered here.”
The bill, which is on legislative hold, can be acted on after March 19.
