Alabama News Round-up Sept. 2010

Not a lot happening lately but there were a few news briefs of interest this month:

http://www.decaturdaily.com/stories/area-news-in-brief,68082?

Decatur Daily: Area News in Brief 9/11/10

Sex offender faces charges

A sex offender is in Morgan County Jail faces charges of altering his criminal status on his driver’s license. Falkville Police Chief Chris Free said his officers stopped J**** D****, 52, of ****, for a traffic violation on Monday and while conducting a background check on his license, noticed he had colored over part of the license listing him as a sex offender. D** was convicted of first-degree sodomy in 1993 in Macon County for a sexual offense with a 7-year-old girl. Police charged D*** with sex offender registration violation. He remained in Morgan County Jail on Friday in lieu of $100,000 bail.

--Paul Huggins

COMMENTS: The state needs to repeal this scarlet letter law to begin with. It has served no purpose other than increasing the chances of social ostracism and vigilantism. And check out the bond set. A bit excessive, don't you think?

http://www.therandolphleader.com/articles/2010/09/22/news/118-county%20commission.txt

County gets unexpected jail expense

by Vanessa Sorrell Burnside
Wednesday, September 22, 2010 8:51 AM CDT

WEDOWEE-- Jail administrator Craig Davidson told the commission as of Oct. 1 the state will no longer do maintenance for the Live Scan fingerprint system at Randolph County Jail. County administrator Cindy Arrington said court funds cannot be used for this system; it will have to come from the jail's budget. Davidson said it is mandated they have this system for the sex offender registration and notification act. The county will have to pay for the maintenance and upgrades to be in compliance. The commission tabled any action on the fingerprint system until the new sheriff is elected.

COMMENT: Cry me a river, Randolph County. You wanted it, now pay for it! I wonder how many people realize how much it costs to have Big Brother harass area sex offenders. If they think it is bad now just wait until Alabama tries implementing the Adam Walsh Act.

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/09/birmingham_crime_rate_down_ove.html

Birmingham crime rate down overall; still ranks 4th in U.S.

Published: Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 5:45 AM     Updated: Tuesday, September 14, 2010, 6:12 AM

Carol Robinson -- The Birmingham News

Birmingham's crime dropped in every category last year, with the number of murders reported in the city decreasing by 20 percent.  Still, despite a 10 percent drop in overall crime, the city ranked fourth nationally in overall crime because of a national downward trend in crime, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report for 2009. In 2008, Birmingham ranked third nationally in overall crime.....  "Even though we are having a banner year in homicide reduction, there is no universal antidote or magic formula for this trend," said Birmingham Deputy Chief Herman Hinton. "Still, I believe that it's more about us expanding our community-based effort through prayer and prayer walks, along with focusing more on high-risk people such as probationers, sex offenders and outstanding felony warrants."

COMMENT: Considering sex offenders have statistically the lowest rate of re-offending by far, I'm scratching my head over the comment made by the B'ham deputy chief. Actually, all the social ostracism and harassment makes them more likely to re-offend. Idiots.

Lack of ID Card sends SO back to jail

There is more to this story than what is written. In case anyone does not know this, Alabama is one of the few states that mark state-issued identification cards for sex offenders-- here it says "Criminal Sex Offender" in red letters around the bottom of the card. It is nothing more than a literal scarlet letter. Note the three year age difference between him and his "victim," who willingly participated in the "crime." Even the Adam Walsh Act sets a four year age difference.

http://enewscourier.com/local/x383284172/Lack-of-ID-card-sends-sex-offender-back-to-jail

Lack of ID card sends sex offender back to jail

By Jean Cole jean@athensnews-courier.com

— An Athens man who had to register as a sexual offender for having a consensual sexual relationship with an underage girl has been arrested for failing to have an ID card identifying him as a registered offender, an official said.

Bernardo Ocampo Sanchez, 22, of 19575 Looney Road is being held in the Limestone County Jail for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents because he is in the country illegally, said Limestone County Chief Investigator Capt. Stanley McNatt.

Sanchez was arrested in 2006 and convicted of second-degree rape for having a consensual sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. He was 18 at the time.

He registered as a sex offender in February 2008.

In accordance with the federal Community Notification Act, also known as Megan’s Law, sex offenders are required to have a valid driver’s license or state ID card that identifies him or her as a convicted sex offender, McNatt said.

He said Sanchez had been given an opportunity to obtain a card.

Calhoun Co. gets iris scan technology

Do we NEED Iris scans? Honestly? Of course, that it will be used on sex offenders is the selling point.

http://www.cbs42.com/content/localnews/story/Calhoun-Co-Gets-New-Technology/W5fyZBi5IkynNMgoU_Po1Q.cspx

Calhoun Co. Gets New Technology
Reported by: Al Ratcliffe
Last Update: 6/22 9:34 pm

Lawmen in East Alabama now have new tool in their arsenal. They don't shoot it, throw it, or use it for cuffs. They use it to take pictures. Very high resolution pictures of very tiny things.

It's called the IRIS, or Inmate Recognition and Identification System. And it's used to map the tiny points of the iris in the human eye. Sean Mullin is training members of the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office on how to use it. Mullin says no two irises are alike. So they're just as good or better than fingerprints as a way to identify people.

The main use in Calhoun County will be in the jail. Adding to the database of known criminals. Using the IRIS, it will be a lot more difficult to let the wrong person out of jail. It will also be used to help keep track of sex offenders. Sheriff Larry Amerson says even if someone gives a false name or identification, one quick picture of the suspect's iris will let cops know who the person is.

The system is currently in 47 different departments across the nation. And Calhoun County is the only agency in Alabama with it.

Besides keeping track of criminals, the IRIS system is also a good tool to use in the case of kidnapped or missing children