A bill that could become law within a year would put the
information of nearly 150 local registered sex offenders on the
Internet
– and it’s a long time coming, Sheriff Curtis Hill said.
Hollister – A bill that could become law within a year would put the information of nearly 150 local registered sex offenders on the Internet – and it’s a long time coming, Sheriff Curtis Hill said.
“People want to know, and they have the right to know,” he said. “It’s about time.”
State legislators have predicted that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign a bill that would put the names, photos, convictions, personal descriptions and ZIP code of convicted serious sex offenders on a public Web site by July 1, 2005. Those considered a high risk will have their street addresses posted. Schwarzenegger hasn’t taken a position on the bill yet.
There are 112 sex offenders living in Hollister, and 37 within the county.
Their information has been available for residents at the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department on the Megan’s Law Web site since 2002, but people have to make an appointment to view it and must be accompanied by an attendant, said Evelia Gomez, the civil records supervisor at the department.
The Hollister Police Department registers all the sex offenders in the city, but do not have a database available for people to view. Both city and county sex offenders are listed at the sheriff’s department.
About two people come in per week to view the records, Gomez said.
“If there’s a story in the paper or a town meeting and the sheriff talks about it… or if someone is buying a new home,” she said. “Then we’ll get inundated with calls and questions.”
Megan’s Law is the term used to cover a set of laws that allows the public to access information about sex offender registries and requires residents to be informed of neighbors with violent sex-crime convictions. It is named for Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old New Jersey girl murdered by a known sex offender who lived across the street from her, unbeknownst to her parents.
More than 30 states already provide sex offender information on the Internet, according to the state’s legislative Web site.
Sex offenders are broken down into three categories: high risk, serious and other. “High risk” offenders are people who have three or more violent offenses and are likely to re-offend, according to Hollister Police Detective Tony Lamonica.
There is one high-risk offender living in Hollister, Lamonica said. Two high-risk offenders live in the county, Hill said.
“Serious” offenders have been convicted of one sexually-related felony, such as rape, and the greatest population of offenders living within the county are in this category, Hill said.
About 10 serious offenders reside in the city, Lamonica said.
The rest of the offenders in Hollister are in the “other” category, Lamonica said. These are usually misdemeanor offenses, such as indecent exposure or statutory rape.
The Assembly bill, as amended by the Senate, would also make public the exact addresses of high-risk offenders. At present Megan’s Law only requires that people be shown an offender’s ZIP code.
Periodically Hill will post information about the two high-risk offenders in the county in neighborhoods they reside in or near, he said.
He doesn’t believe putting the exact addresses of these type of offenders will create any kind of vigilante justice.
“We out them all the time,” he said. “People just want to know. As long as they know, they’re OK. But is there a need to have checks and balances plugged into the legislation? Absolutely.”
Hill believes those checks and balances come in the form of not publicizing the addresses of the offenders in the serious and other categories, he said.
Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller said the legislation is a good idea in that it makes accessing the information more convenient and people will be able to be more cognizant of offenders in their area, but he also has some reservations.
People who view the Web site and see they don’t have an offender in their area could become careless when it comes to protecting their children, he said.
“Regardless if their street is offender-free, they still need to teach their kids safety precautions,” he said. “It’s a mixed bag. I’m concerned that it could create a false sense of security from protecting our kids from the offenders we don’t know about.”
By the numbers
149
Registered offenders in San Benito County
112
Offenders living in Hollister
37
Offenders living outside of Hollister in SBC
30
States already post sex offenders online
