County Attorney Claude Biddle shot down a proposed ordinance
requiring all landlords who rent property within one mile or a
school or park to determine whether their tenants are registered
sex offenders because it is unconstitutional.
Hollister – County Attorney Claude Biddle shot down a proposed ordinance requiring all landlords who rent property within one mile or a school or park to determine whether their tenants are registered sex offenders because it is unconstitutional.
However the ordinance’s author, Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz, said he plans to form a “grass roots” committee that would inform anyone living near a sex offender about their presence, while “monitoring” every sex offender in the county listed on the Megan’s Law Web site.
De La Cruz said he hasn’t spoken with law enforcement officials concerning how far he can take his mission.
“We need to talk to the sheriff’s department and make sure we don’t violate their individual rights,” De La Cruz said. “We’ll go to the individual, be very gentle and tell them we’re here and will continue to monitor the situation.”
While De La Cruz only has one community member committed to his nascent cause now, District Attorney John Sarsfield cautioned that those actions could be construed as vigilantism and a direct violation of an offender’s constitutional rights.
“That type of conduct is not allowed – that’s how lynching happens. That’s basically vigilantism and vigilante activity is not allowed by the law,” Sarsfield said. “The government is not allowed to harass people and Mr. De La Cruz is the government whether he likes it or not. It’s the job of the police department and sheriff’s office to monitor sex offenders and they do a reasonably good job considering their short staffing levels. Funding for adequate law enforcement is the way to stop sex crimes, not by these ridiculous vigilante activities.”
Although his ordinance didn’t make the cut, De La Cruz said one person has committed to his citizens’ committee so far, and he hopes to increase that number to at least 20 by sending out flyers, doing public service announcements and by word of mouth.
Once a committee is formed, De La Cruz said he hopes to scour the Megan’s Law Web site, which posts the names, photos and addresses of about 60 sex offenders residing in San Benito County, and go to sex offenders’ residences and “let them know we’re here and we’re monitoring them.”
But Sheriff Curtis Hill also expressed concern about whether that could be a possible violation of the rights of someone who is in compliance with the law.
“For a (sex offender) complying with the law, their response might not be so gentle. We try to gently arrest people, too, but sometimes that doesn’t work out,” Hill said. “I would be interested in seeing that in writing to see if it flies, because I’m obliged to enforce the law on both sides of the ledger. We have to be very cautious with that as a community. Just because you break the law doesn’t mean you don’t have a right to privacy.”
Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller said that while a committee informing neighbors that they live near a sex offender is fine, using the Megan’s Law Web site to go to sex offenders’ homes is the type of activity that could result in the Web site being pulled off the Internet.
“I’d have to see what kind of activity they were engaging in and we’d have to go from there,” Miller said. “But I can see some real potential for it getting out of hand. I hope cooler heads prevail through all of this.”
County Counsel Biddle turned De La Cruz’s original ordinance down because state law already covers the entire field of regulating sex offenders, and any county ordinance attempting to further address the issue would be redundant, according to a written opinion.
“(The) Legislature… has determined that criminal identification, reporting and the enforcement of the subject is of state-wide concern,” Biddle wrote. “Any attempt by a local agency to further regulate a field which the Legislature has so determined would be unconstitutional in that the Legislature has pre-empted this particular subject.”
The ordinance, which De La Cruz submitted to Biddle last week, would have required all landlords who rent private property located within one mile of a school, park, bus stop or facility that provides child care to ascertain whether their tenant is a registered sex offender. Additionally, if a landlord discovered they were renting to a sex offender, the ordinance would have required they report it to their district supervisor, who would have been required to notify and educate residents in the neighborhood.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
