The headline says, “Check Finds Most Sex Offenders Living At Registered Address“.
After conducting a recent “Sex Offender Registry Compliance Check,” the Pottawattamie County [IA] Sheriff’s Office says nearly all of the sex offenders they checked were living at his or her registered address.
The disappointment is almost palpable. Perhaps they expected to find all the sex offenders camping out on preschool playgrounds. Instead, they were living exactly where the registry said they would be. Imagine that. Just as study after study shows, registered sex offenders are law abiding citizens.
“Further investigations into potential criminal charges for failing to update information and/or violations were found on five separate offenders,” reads the Department’s news release.
Five law-breaking offenders.
“Of the five investigations, two are not considered criminal however will be referred to the Iowa Department of Human Services.”
Only three law-breaking offenders, then.
Two sex offenders … were arrested.
Only TWO arrested.
Failure to Register can be another felony charge. They can serve more prison time simply because they missed a registration deadline or because they failed to understand the registry requirements or because registrants were not notified of changes in requirements — not because they are an actual threat to anyone but because they didn’t register correctly.
A paperwork error, perhaps a data entry error.
Notice that the article does not say that five registrants could not be found. Law enforcement knows where these men are. There is no mystery here, only an opportunity to throw lives into chaos again.
The article also omits any information about how many overtime hours were logged during this operation.
Nor does it include any information about officers who protested the waste of time.
~ marie