Megan's Law enforced at Fair
Campus Times
September 19, 1997
by Rob Strauss
Editorial Assistant
The Los Angeles County Fair has a new attraction this year that representatives
hope will help to save lives. Fairgoers can now look at the CD-ROM of serious
sex offenders, which was inspired by Megan's Law.
The CD-ROM was introduced to police stations in July after the law was
passed last September.
"This is a new thing," said Michael Van Winkle, information
officer for the California Department of Justice. "This has not been
at the L.A. County Fair in any previous years because it has not been available
in this form."
Megan's Law was named for 7-year old Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl
who was raped and murdered. It requires sex offenders to register with the
police. It also allows authorities to notify the people that have lived
near the offenders in the past.
Though the information is accessible to the public, the CD-ROM cannot
be used on a home computer.
"People can access the information from Megan's Law only under
the supervision of law enforcement and only with law enforcement present,"
said Winkle.
Statistics from the California Attorney General's Office show that in
the first four days of the Fair, 2,301 people viewed the database and 236
people have recognized a registered sex offender. Sixteen of those recognized
from the database included a child at risk.
Not everybody is happy about the CD-ROM's exhibition, though. In a written
statement sent to the Campus Times, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
of Southern California protests the CD-ROM's exhibition at the fair.
"The data on the CD-ROM has a known error rate of about 40 percent,"
writes the ACLU. "Many police stations have created their own maps
with corrected information. None of that will be available at the Fair."
The ACLU is also afraid that the CD-ROM will lead to harassment.
"[It is not likely] that officials staffing the booth will make
a serious effort to explain to each viewer that harassment and vigilantism
of ex-offenders are illegal and will not be tolerated by the police,"
writes the ACLU.
Winkle, though, states that the CD-ROM has been successful and that
99 percent of the feedback has been positive.
"They're looking up this information when they find a soccer coach,
when they find somebody who works with kids," said Winkle.
Sara Brown, information officer for the California Attorney General's
Office, said they are planning on using it at additional venues in the future,
including the Fresno County Fair.
To view the CD-ROM, citizens must present valid California identification
and sign a form declaring that they are not registered as sex offenders.
