Police say Megan’s Law is working

Deepa Bharath

The cities’ police departments have had few problems keeping track

of convicted sex offenders required to register under Megan’s Law,

officials say.

That is in stark contrast to an Associated Press investigation

Wednesday that revealed that more than 33,000 offenders have fallen

off the radar, a number larger than the state’s previous estimate

that the whereabouts of a third of California’s sex criminals is not

known.

Every state has adopted some version of Megan’s Law, which is

named after Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed

by a child molester on parole who lived in her neighborhood. Under

California’s law, every month cities get a disc from the Department

of Justice with a complete list of registered offenders.

In Costa Mesa, where 137 convicted sex offenders are now

registered, detectives who investigate sex crimes track the

offenders, Det. Sgt. Jack Archer said.

“What we do is check our master list of registered offenders,” he

said. “They are required to register within five days of their

birthday. So we keep track of their birthdays, and if someone hasn’t

come in, one of our detectives knocks on their door to find out what

happened.”

In most cases, “they’re either defiant or have simply forgotten to

register,” Archer said.

Newport Beach has less of a problem because it has very few

offenders living in the city -- about 26 registered sex criminals,

said Sgt. Steve Shulman.

“We know none of them have fallen off the radar because we’ve

constantly verified their addresses,” he said. “Of course, the

situation is constantly changing. But we take a proactive approach by

making routine checks.”

All registered offenders must also go through an “exit interview”

with the police department before they leave the city.

“If they leave without doing that, and we don’t know where they

are, we file a case with the district attorney,” Archer said. “When

they leave the city and we know where they’re going, we notify the

police agency in the city they’re moving to.”

Two groups who do pose major challenges are people who fail to

register and transients, who are required to register every 60 days,

he said, adding that sometimes there are discrepancies between the

state’s and city’s numbers.

“Sometimes, we get the information before they do, and it takes a

while for them to update it,” he said. “It’s not a perfect system,

but it’s a good system.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].