Orange County District Attorney Media Advisory
For Immediate Release: May 18, 2012
Contacts:
Susan Kang Schroeder, Chief of Staff, Office: 714-347-8408, Cell: 714-292-2718
Farrah Emami, Spokesperson, Office: 714-347-8405, Cell: 714-323-4486
WHO: Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Chief of Staff Susan Kang Schroeder
WHAT: Will attend the Santa Ana City Council meeting Monday in support of enacting a City ordinance to create a child safety zone in city parks to further protect children from registered sex offenders. This will be the first reading of the ordinance. The Council will discuss whether Santa Ana should enact a City Ordinance similar to the County Ordinance proposed by Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Supervisor Shawn Nelson (Fourth District) and passed unanimously by the Orange County Board of Supervisors on April 5, 2011. The County Ordinance makes it a misdemeanor for registered sex offenders to enter County recreational areas where children regularly gather. Between May 2011 and April 2012, the Cities of Westminster, Irvine, La Habra, Los Alamitos, Huntington Beach, Yorba Linda, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Costa Mesa, and Seal Beach passed similar ordinances, and other cities are currently in the process of developing a similar ordinance.
WHEN: Monday, May 21, 2012, at 6:00 p.m.
WHERE: City Hall Council Chambers, 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana
To read the full County Ordinance, please select the April 5, 2011, press release titled “Orange County Board of Supervisors Unanimously Votes to Adopt New Law to Keep Registered Sex Offenders Out of Parks, Harbors, Beaches and Playgrounds,” under Press Releases/Media Advisories at www.orangecountyda.com.
To read the agenda item, please select “Council Agenda” from the homepage www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/.
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Tony Rackauckas, District Attorney
401 Civic Center Drive West
Santa Ana, CA 92701
They will need an army of police officers to write tickets/make arrests at Santiago Park until the word gets around if they pass this law. There are more molesters per square foot in Santiago Park than in a convention of Catholic Priests!
Quote from @Gracias Consejales!: “They will need an army of police officers to write tickets/make arrests at Santiago Park until the word gets around if they pass this law”
Quote from the OCDA: “There is no fiscal impact associated with this action”
Are you perhaps, like me, getting the feeling you are being hoodwinked? Smell ulterior motives?
In the 1990’s the city went hard core trying to get rid of these fellows and the numbers were down BUT….the activists, artists and others with a “if it feels good do it” attitude, protested saying they can do whoever they want, whenever they want in Santiago Park and the city backed off. There was an SAPD officer named Sgt Owen who helped a group of us moms in Park Santiago back then but in the years since the S.A. City council has gone soft on these crimes. I’ll be shocked if they have the juevos to pass this law now. Sit at the creek side entrance to the park across from the old folks home with a clip board and a camera and watch who shows up. It’s a whos who of O.C. Megan’s Listers meeting and you know whating day and night.
@Hang em Higher – people not under supervision (parole), indeed, should be able to do whatever they want, wherever they want, as long as it does not constitute a violation of the penal code. That is called a basic right as guaranteed by the Constitution. The same document that lets you not go to the park should you chose not to.
I feel you imply that the persons on the registry engage in criminal conduct in tax payer supported areas. Please post links / records of RSOs convicted of repeat crimes, committed in public parks.
I would be very surprised if the SA City Council has the huevos to stand up to this obvious violation of the oath they swore to uphold the constitution, and the OCDA’s quest to make his political fortune on the backs of these people.
I, for one, am much more afraid of the constant erosion of basic rights in this country than RSOs in public (!) parks. For both myself and my child.
Hang em Higher was right. Didn’t take long for the defenders of the Megan’s Listers to post on this one. Mr. Pedroza, how many moms and dads in your neighborhood feel safe taking their kids to Santiago Park while men meet men in the park for such activities?
icancount says they are:
“much more afraid of the constant erosion of basic rights in this country than RSOs in public (!) parks. For both myself and my child.”
Great. While icancount and those of his/her ilk protect the right of sex offenders to “recreate” in our parks….the rest of us stay away.
Let’s hope the Santa Ana councils didn’t create these parks for Megan’s Listers alone and lets hope that our jails are expanded to keep them in longer before they get out to use our parks and school grounds.
I suggest concerned neighbors take photos of cars and men who hang out in these public park spaces looking to commit crimes
I have suggested to the SAPD that they install CCTV cameras where the lurkers like to congregate, as well as lights set off by motion. That ought to chase this bunch off.
I consider myself a defender of the Constitution. The fact that Megan’s Listers as a group are included in those having their constitutional rights trampled on is merely incidental. I would like to get a better definition of ‘our’ in ‘our parks’. Exactly to whom do public parks belong, If not the public.
Surely it is a well known statistic that over 90% of abuse takes place in the home, at church or school, etc. So if you really want to ‘feel safe’ I suggest you send your child to live in isolation. Or you could do your job as a parent.
I would have no problem with longer jail sentences. But once you are out, off parole or probation, that has to be it. Again, that pesky Constitution.
I see your point but all of that quickly washes away when a child is hurt or kidnapped and that has happened in public parks before. Most of the current scumbags who hook up at Santiago Park probably are there just to hook up with each other but the fear I have is that a real predator will mix in with that crowd – and make off with someone’s kid.
People should not be having sex in our public parks. If they want to do that there are plenty of places in the Artists Village where they can meet up, including the Velvet Lounge, a gay bar that seems to be targeting this demographic.
People who commit the types of crimes being reported in Santiago Park do not get better from their sickness just as Megans Listers never are “cured”. Icancount will be happy to know that he/she can continue to sit on a log and read his/her pocket Constitution in Santiago Park without being bothered by moms or kids who don’t approve us such activity. They are not in the park now in great numbers and I doubt they will return.
Great ideas Art. Especially the cameras and changing the meeting place from Santiago Park to the Artists village but I’m not sure the Father of the Artist Village, Mr. Lutz, would approve. Maybe they can just open up the Saddleback in for those “meetings” which would be a win/win for all involved. I don’t think most of the rooms at the Saddleback in are being used at this time.
Do the proponents of this ordinance not realize that a giant net is cast over all registered sex offenders in California? The offenses include he said/she said date rape, Romeo & Juliet romances, accidental downloads of child porn, in addition to the violent predators. These people have served their time, just like convicted murderers, thieves, extortionists, etc, who are allowed to go on with their lives without scrutiny once released. How is it that registered sex offenders (keep in mind that big net) must be punished for life, and further punished by local ordinance that are proposed by people who DON’T know the facts, aren’t aware of the less than 5% recidivism rate among RSO’s, and enjoy brainwashing the public utilizing manipulative fear tactics. Shame on you. Let these people rebuild their lives and stop violating their constitutional rights!
Last I looked there were about 270 people on Megan’s list, in Santa Ana. Go look it up. I don’t think you would want your kids endangered by these people.
There are plenty of places they can go hang out, but now they cannot do so in our public parks. I have no problem with that.
All you grand standing un-American anti-constitutional people out there (which is about 80%) that are okay with these park bans have lost at every judicial level these ordinances hit all the way up the the California State Supreme Court. Sheesh, people do you even understand how easy it is to get put on that online Hit-List? There has been children put on the registry as young as 9 years old. TRUTH