02/15/2012
SACRAMENTO -- An Inland Empire lawmaker today introduced a bill that would require convicted sex offenders to have a state-issued identification card or driver's license in their possession at all times.
"Requiring the most dangerous sex offenders to carry a form of identification is the most effective way for law enforcement to determine a suspect's registration status," said Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Beaumont. "Most registered sex offenders will re-offend, which means we have to take a proactive approach when dealing with the worst of the worst."
- More BS lies not based on facts. Many studies show sex offenders have one of the lowest recidivism rates of any other criminal, yet Mr. Cook apparently drank the koolaid. He's been on a sex offender kick for awhile now, see the video below.
Assembly Bill 1695 targets offenders whose convictions stemmed from a violent sexual attack or the sexual assault of a child.
- I do not see this bill anywhere on the state legislature web site.
Under California Penal Code section 290, anyone convicted of a sexual offense in California must register their address with law enforcement and notify authorities whenever they relocate.
"This bill says they also have to have a state ID on them," John Sobel, the assemblyman's chief of staff, told City News Service. "That way, when law enforcement officials are searching for someone, and they happen to stop someone covered under this bill, that person will have an ID, and it will be easy to identify him or her."
In the 2011 legislative session, Cook introduced AB 885, which would have required sex offenders to possess an ID or driver's license with a scannable strip onto which their registration status would have been encoded, permitting authorities to immediately determine their identity.
Cook reasoned that such a device would enhance law enforcement officials' ability to locate suspects during a search for a missing child or determine whether convicted sex offenders were violating their parole.
The bill was voted down in the Assembly Committee on Transportation, where a majority of lawmakers said the program would be too expensive, according to Sobel.
AB 1695 is slated to be heard by the same committee in the next few weeks.
I don't know if I believe the author of this bill is naive enough to believe that passing a bill automatically means people will follow it, or if the author is crafty enough to realize he is giving police one more tool to arrest RSO's who are just going about their lives.
ReplyDeleteThe consequences of bills like this are already evident. Remember the stars that Jews were forced to wear during WWII? Remember what happened to them? Don't think that something similar can't happen again...
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I went so far as to try and site the CT article (new SO statistics) on Mr. Cook's website but ran into a brick wall since he wouldn't receive comments from outside his district...
ReplyDeleteAnybody in that area should get on the bandwagon and force feed this article to him...
I'm wondering if I can find an address in the area... Maybe the address of the capitol? At least that should be available online...
Ha! It worked!
ReplyDeleteI checked for Mr. Cooks' own address and fed it into the email sign up form...
Here's what I wrote:
Mr. Cook,I just read an article detailing your inaccurate assessment of sex offenders in California. While I find your suggestions to be admirable (certain offenders do need to be tracked), I find your solution to be somewhat lacking. In case you never studied history, the Germans forced the Jews to where gold stars to identify them. Do you remember what happened after that? Think that can't happen in the good 'ol USA? Think again...But back to your comment that "most registered sex offenders will re-offend." Have you ever done any research at all? I would call your attention to an article recently published in CT where accurate statistics were gathered on recidivism rates: http://www.ctmirror.org/story/15450/report-finds-low-recidivism-rate-amongst-convicted-sex-offendersThere have also been numerous Dept. of Justice surveys conducted that show much the same thing. Are you just ignorant of the facts or trying to build on the public hysteria to secure your position?Do the state a favor and do some research for a change. For that matter, why not sponsor similar research in CA as that in CT. See what you find...
the reason why COOK on this which hunt hes running for congress
ReplyDelete