Friday, 29 March 2024

Regional task force focuses on sex predators

LAKE COUNTY – The Lake County Sheriff's Office has joined a new regional task force that aims to go after sex offenders who don't adhere to the state's registration laws, and will boost local resources in fighting sex crimes.


LCSO Lt. Cecil Brown said the department will participate in the Region II Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Task Force.


The California legislature established funds for Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) teams, Brown reported, with the objective of lowering the number of noncompliant sex registrants.


The law requires individuals who are convicted of designated sex offenses, such as rape and child molestation, to keep law enforcement informed of their address, said Brown.


A state Department of Justice registration update sheet, furnished by LCSO, explains that convicted offenders must follow a lengthy list of requirements, including informing the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the area where they live of address changes within five working days. If they have been committed as a sexually violent predator, they must update their information with law enforcement every 90 days.


However, some convicted sex offenders fail to comply with this requirement, moving between jurisdictional boundaries to avoid law enforcement scrutiny.


Earlier this year, Santa Clara County won a SAFE grant and invited other counties in the Office of Emergency Services Region 2 to join its task force, Brown said. Other member counties include Contra Costa, Humboldt, Napa, Del Norte, Mendocino, Marin, Solano, Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito.


Brown said Sheriff Rod Mitchell was involved with the task force's development from the early stages, meeting with the other member counties beginning in February.


The task force will use a variety of methods to lower the number of noncompliant registrants in an area – from training and education for law enforcement and the public alike, to vigorous enforcement of existing laws through countywide sweeps, said Brown. The sweeps would likely involve multiple officers canvassing specific areas.


Members of probation departments, district attorney's offices, state law enforcement agencies and federal law enforcement agencies also will participate in Region II SAFE Task Force activities, he said.


The various agencies will share information and resources, and conduct operations across the different counties, he said.


Curran details local issues, efforts


Det. Mike Curran, who has spent 11 and a half of his 28 years with the sheriff's office working sex crimes cases, said $5.7 million was allocated for seven SAFE task forces throughout the state.


Curran sits on the Violent Crime Information Network Renovation Committee through the California Department of Justice, which currently is overseeing changes to the network that help provide law enforcement with more information prior to, and during, contacts with registered sex offenders.


He also was chosen by the state Department of Justice to be the rural agency representative on a seven-person delegation representing California at the 2006 National Symposium for Sex Offender Tracking & Management held last September.


Curran estimates that there are about 300 registered sex offenders in Lake County, including the cities of Lakeport and Clearlake. But that number changes everyday, he said, because of new cases, peoples' movements and, in some cases, death.


Both Curran and Brown explain that sex crimes draw on a significant amount of the sheriff's office resources.


“I review reports on sex crimes everyday,” said Brown. “It is a continuous part of what we do.”


That statement appears borne out in the numbers.


The LCSO Crime Statistics report, released earlier this year, showed an overall decrease in the numbers of specific crimes in 2006 as compared to 2005.


The only type of crimes that increased – by nearly 5 percent – were sex-related, the report noted.


The report, which covers only the sheriff's jurisdictions in the county's unincorporated areas, showed 66 sex crimes – rape, statutory rape and child molestation – for the period of Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2006. The county areas around Lakeport had the most sex crimes, with 21 reported.


The statistics can be explained in a variety of ways, said Curran. While he agrees that one factor may be the county's growing population, which brings more crime with it, he believes that increased public awareness of what constitutes a sex crime and the importance of reporting such crimes may primarily account for those increased numbers.


At the same time, said Curran, sex crimes are the toughest cases to make. Like elder abuse and arson, other crimes that are equally difficult to prove, sex crimes require extra investigation, he said.


Then, there is the fear of going through the legal system and, ultimately, reliving the crime in court, in front of strangers. “It does take a lot of strength, a lot of courage,” Curran said.


A father and grandfather himself, Curran is acutely aware of the delicate nature of sex crimes and the toll on the victims. He said he's seen cases where children are sometimes more brave than adults when facing the legal process.


He said he's heard of cases where it took longer to pick a jury for a sex crime case than for a homicide, because so many more people have been affected – either directly or indirectly – by sex crimes.


Even as tough as the cases are to make, said Curran, he's witnessed more than an 80-percent conviction rate for sex crimes, with many accused perpetrators pleading out before going through the process. Prosecutor John DeChaine of the Lake County District Attorney's Office prosecutes most the county's sex crimes, Curran reported.


A trend that Lake County has so far escaped is what Curran called the “explosion” of Internet predators.


“It's absolutely frightening,” he said.


Understanding the potential for it to become a problem here, Curran said he plans to draw on the task force grant's public education component.


He said he intends to organize several public workshops within the county's school districts to educate parents of junior high and high school students about the dangers of Internet predators. Craig Woodworth, a District Attorney's Office investigator and an agent with the Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force will be the presenter, Curran said.


The plan, Curran said, is to begin holding the workshops sometime this summer and into the next school year.


What the task force will do


Curran said four LCSO deputies will work on a part-time, as-needed basis on task force activities, including traveling to other counties to take part in enforcement activities. Curran said he's attending classes to become more familiar with the task force's operations and surveillance techniques.


At least one sweep is expected to be performed in Lake County before June, he said; he expects two more will take place later in the year.


“Each county will put on one or more sweeps or operations at any given time,” said Curran.


The two basic types of operations he expects to see happen locally are sweeps with the goal of arresting noncompliant sex offenders, and efforts that would include contacting offenders and confirming their addresses.


Curran said many convicted offenders avoid registering because of the stigma attached, and concerns that it might affect or end new relationships.


Arrested offenders may face jail time, which will depend on the severity of their original crime, Brown said. If they have prior felonies, said Curran, they could go back to prison.


Such was the case with two men sentenced late last month for failing to register as sex offenders. Curran investigated the cases, which DeChaine successfully prosecuted. One man received six years in prison, while the other received a prison sentenced of more than 13 years.


LCSO's officers already have taken part in one enforcement activity in Monterey County, said Brown.


The county's Board of Supervisors recently accepted $23,718 from the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office to cover costs of overtime for LCSO deputies who are working on the SAFE Task Force.


Task force takes a unique approach


The task force's regional nature makes it especially unique, said Brown. And that's helpful because of the nature of the sex crimes LCSO is seeing.


"A lot of our crimes are kind of a regional problem, and the players don't stay in one jurisdiction," he said, with the offenders moving from county to county.


Someone can violate the registration requirements for a while and then move on to a nearby county, said Brown. But by working together, the law enforcement agencies are taking away that ability to hide.


The task force also is an opportunity for departments to share best practices, Brown said.


"We've been doing a lot of proactive things that some of the other counties have not been doing," he said.


That includes doing regular checks on local sex registrants, Brown said. Every registered sex offender in the county's unincorporated areas are assigned to a deputy sheriff, who makes quarterly contact with them. It's an approach some other counties don't take, Brown notes.


In addition to identifying noncompliant sex offenders, Brown said the task force will give the agencies resources to work on unsolved sex crimes. “We're creating a big pool of investigative manpower here that we can draw on.”


The SAFE Task Force format already is resulting in increased compliance, by as much as 50 percent, said Curran. Most grants, he said, call for a 5- to 10-percent improvement.


Brown said he has high hopes for the task force's format.


“If we can do this well, I'm really hoping this will become a template for dealing with other problems,” he said, from drugs to auto theft to child abductions. “This could be a really helpful approach.”


E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..


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