Kevin Metcalf peddles Predator Panic in attempt to derail a federal privacy law

I had a recent conversation with a person who was apparently a consumer of trash TV and this person made a similar statement to this idiotic rant by Kevin Meatcalf. Personal privacy should be a priority in this age but fascists like Meatcalf here want you to give up your freedoms and what better way to do that than by exploiting fear?

And despite the official-sounding name, the  so-called "National Child Protection Task Force" is a private for-profit business out of Fayetteville, Arkansas, not a government agency. He is just another snake oil salesman trying to pad his pockets. GTFOH.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/3881191-say-no-to-child-predators-and-other-criminals-going-off-the-radar/amp/

"As the founder and CEO of the National Child Protection Task Force, I know firsthand the importance of information in the hands of those responsible for investigating and stopping violent crime. It enables authorities to quickly identify, track and locate suspects. Our children go missing every day. They get trafficked every day and get physically and emotionally abused, groomed, sexually exploited and sold every day. The community that works on child protection is a disparate one. It includes people who have willingly dedicated themselves to seeing the worst of humanity to keep the most vulnerable among us safe."

Why is this assclown selling stickers that 
vaguely resemble the "white power" symbol?

The Arkansas Legislature is droning on and on... about prohibiting Registered Persons from owning and using drones

I'm surprised a backwater state like Arkansas even understands anything about modern technology, but I'd question the intelligence of Rep. Evans and Senator Hill. They probably have as much education as Lauren Boebert, if even that. 

https://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/FTPDocument?path=%2FBills%2F2023R%2FPublic%2FHB1125.pdf

State of Arkansas, 94th General Assembly, Regular Session2023 

HOUSE BILL 1125 By: Representative Evans & Senator Hill

For An Act To Be Entitled: AN ACT TO PROHIBIT A R** S** O** FROM PURCHASING, OWNING, POSSESSING, USING, OR OPERATING AN UNMANNED AIRCRAFT FOR PRIVATE USE; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

TO PROHIBIT A R** S** O** FROM PURCHASING, OWNING, POSSESSING, USING, OR OPERATING AN UNMANNED AIRCRAFT FOR PRIVATE USE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:

SECTION 1. Arkansas Code § 5-4-109 is amended to read as follows:

5-4-109. Sentencing for s** offense.

A person who is convicted of an offense for which he or she is required to register as a s** o** under the S** O** R** Act of 28 1997, § 12-12-901 et seq., shall be notified at his or her sentencing by the court that he or she is prohibited from:

(1) Recording a person under fourteen (14) years of age under § 5-14-137 if he or she is assessed as a Level 3 or Level 4 o**; or

(2) Purchasing, owning, possessing, using, or operating an unmanned aircraft under § 5-14-138 if he or she is assessed as a Level 3 or Level 4 o**.

SECTION 2. Arkansas Code Title 5, Chapter 14, Subchapter 1, is amended to add an additional section to read as follows:

5-14-138. Registered o**  prohibited from purchasing, owning, possessing, using, or operating an unmanned aircraft.

(a) As used in this section, "unmanned aircraft" means an aircraft, including an aircraft commonly known as a drone, that is operated without the possibility of direct human intervention from within or on the aircraft and has the ability to photographically or electronically record.

(b) It is unlawful for a person who is required to register under the S** O**  R** Act of 1997, § 12-12-901 et seq., and who has been assessed as a Level 3 or Level 4 o**  to knowingly purchase, own, possess, use, or operate an unmanned aircraft.

(c) This section does not apply to a person who: (1) Is required to purchase, own, possess, use, or operate an unmanned aircraft as part of his or her employment; and (2) Purchases, owns, possesses, uses, or operates an unmanned aircraft as part of his or her employment.

(d) A violation of this section is a Class D felony.

Cumberland County Arkansas Sheriff Ennis Wright should change his last name to WRONG

Generally, anything NARSOL writes is useless as tits on a bull but even a blind squirrel finds a nut on occasion. In this case they reeled in a big nut. 

https://www.fayobserver.com/story/opinion/2022/07/29/cumberland-sheriff-release-had-no-public-safety-value-may-have-caused-harm/10171445002/

Cumberland sheriff announcement had no public safety value, may have caused harm

Sandy Rozek

In Fayetteville last week, what could and should have been a warm, human-interest story about homelessness was re-shaped by law enforcement into something entirely different.

The real story is about those who take very literally the Biblical admonitions to serve the least of those in society, to help our neighbors and to do unto others as we would want done to us. Additionally, the members of Fayetteville Urban Ministry who visit and take food and other essentials to the men living in tents along Martin Luther King Freeway and Gillespie Street Bridge in Fayetteville are training their children in selfless service to others.

The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, however, saw something different. They shifted the focus away from the real story and turned it into a “public service announcement.”

“Cumberland County Sheriff Ennis W. Wright and the deputies assigned to the Sheriff's Office Sex Offender Registration Enforcement Unit (SOREU) have increased concern for the public's safety,” the Sheriff’s Office news release stated. Registered Sex Offenders live under and around the MLK and Gillespie Street Bridge, it said.

People on the sex offender registry are homeless due to restrictions about where they may live. These restrictions are shown by all studies to be of no public safety value whatsoever.

They have even been denounced by the U.S. Justice Dept. in the summary of its chapter on sex offender management strategies: “Finally, the evidence is fairly clear that residence restrictions are not effective. In fact, the research suggests that residence restrictions may actually increase offender risk by undermining offender stability and the ability of the offender to obtain housing, work and family support. There is nothing to suggest this policy should be used at this time.”

s action by the sheriff’s department begs the question, “What has this accomplished?” Not “Why did they do this?” for that is known only by those involved, but: “What has been accomplished? Who has been helped?”

Without this “public-service announcement,” were children at risk? There is no evidence of that. Even if there were any risk from the occupants of the tents — and there is also no evidence whatsoever that there is — any children visiting there were part of the Urban Ministry group, supervised by parents and other adults.

Without this announcement, would hordes of Fayetteville citizens have rushed to the tents, putting themselves at risk, again a risk that no evidence supports even existed? Why did the sheriff’s office have “increased concern for the public’s safety?”

So what has been accomplished? Further vilification of a segment of society. Further portraying of people with past sexual crime convictions as “the other.” Further ostracization and isolation of everyone on the registry.

In other words, what the sheriff sees as “a public safety announcement” is, in reality, further reinforcement of the conditions which science shows lead to sexual offending in the first place, conditions that create further barriers to integration of those with past sexual crimes into the community, integration which science deems necessary to maximize rehabilitation and reduce even further the already very low rate of re-offense.

So what has the Cumberland Sheriff’s Office accomplished?

Quite possibly the exact opposite of what will actually increase public safety.

James Freeman of the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office, Arkansas, goes to wrong address during compliance check and assassinates a dog

 

This dog didn't have to die. If only these dumb pigs stopped doing worthless "compliance checks." I'm willing to wager this disgusting cop was thinking he's shooting a Registered Person's dog so he didn't care. Worse yet, he's not going to be reprimanded for it. 

https://katv.com/news/local/faulkner-county-sheriffs-investigator-fatally-shoots-kids-dog-after-going-to-wrong-house

Faulkner County Sheriff's investigator fatally shoots kid's dog after going to wrong house

by Marine Glisovic, KATV Staff

Tuesday, November 10th 2020

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) - The Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an internal investigation after an investigator shot and killed a child’s dog. According to a spokesperson, Investigator James Freeman was in Greenbrier for a sex offender compliance check but went to the wrong home.

Chris Coiner, who lives at the home where Freeman shot the dog, contacted Seven On Your Side after his dog had been shot and killed on Monday afternoon.

Coiner, who recorded his interaction with Freeman, said his dog was shot just for barking. “Wait right there. What is your name? What’s your name?” Coiner asked the investigator in the video. “I’m investigator Freeman with the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office...I’m looking for Samuel,” Freeman responded.

“At what address?” Coiner asked. “72 A,” Freeman responded.

“That’s over there you G****** moron. Get off my property! You shot and killed my dog!"

It was a gruesome scene on Autumn Hills Road Monday afternoon when Freeman shot Coiner’s three-year-old Terrier mix, Clide. Coiner said Freeman shot Clide in the head.

“My daughter was coming to the door and said somebody was in the driveway,” Coiner described. “Just a blue pickup, unmarked. Before I was even around the corner here, I heard a shot, and the officer had shot my dog right here in the yard for barking at him. My girlfriend watched it out the window, the dog was not attacking him, the dog was barking, in my yard, on private property.”

According to Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Captain Erinn Stone, Freeman was conducting a sex offender compliance check at 72 Autumn Hills Road. A person living there allegedly told Freeman the offender possibly lives next door.

“I asked him why he was here, and he said he was looking for somebody named Samuel at 72 Autumn Hills Road which is the next-door neighbor,” said Coiner. “I didn’t know this at the time, but I had found out he had already been to 72 which was the right address, so he knew he was not at the right address and he shot my dog for barking at him.”

While this incident is under internal review, Chief Deputy Matt Rice confirmed Freeman is still on duty – a fact Coiner said is hard to understand.

“He’s at work today and my protecting guard dog here will never work again because he killed him yesterday.”

Coiner is now asking the sheriff’s office to review their own policies and provide further training. As some may recall, this isn’t the first time this type of incident has happened.

Back in January of 2019, a Faulkner County deputy shot a dog that survived. That deputy was later fired and charged with animal cruelty.

SOYS asked whether the sheriff’s office had changed internal policies since that 2019 shooting and Chief Deputy Rice said they have not changed their policies.

The sheriff's office had no further comment on the incident involving Freeman.

It is 2020 and Paula Stitz, ex-cop fired for corruption, still runs the Arkansas Sex Offense Registry

"Once upon a time there was a Police Chief in the tiny backwater village of Eureka Springs named PaulaStitz(kin). Paulastitzkin was fired from her police chief job and she sued to get her job back, claiming of all things, "sexual discrimination." PaulaStitzKin failed in her lawsuit. What kind of job could a disgraced crooked cop do? That is when the kingdom of Arkansas offered PaulaStitzKin a new job working on the state sex offender registry. After all, the kingdom could care less about their peasants and figured a crooked cop made a perfect fit."

I told this fairy tale way back in 2012, and yet here we are in 2020 and Paula Stitz, disgraced corrupt ex-cop, STILL has a job. I guess Arkansas just has no standards whatsoever. 

https://katv.com/news/local/homeless-sex-offenders-sometimes-hard-to-manage-in-arkansas

Paula Stitz has been the sex offender registry manager at the Arkansas Crime Information Center for 20 years.

“There are groups of people that say that sex offenders don’t re-offend any more than any other group I disagree,” Stitz said. She said the biggest issues facing law enforcement right now are homeless sex offenders or those who are truck drivers and cross state lines.

“A sex offender person who declares himself homeless is a very difficult person to manage,” Stitz said.

There are over 300 local law enforcement agencies and 75 county sheriff's department in Arkansas. Stitz said she talks with dozens of them a day.

“When I’m talking to law enforcement there are more that declare they are homeless when they really are not because they don’t want you to know where they are living,” Stitz said. “They will come out from prison or come from another state and say ‘I don’t have any place to live I’m sleeping on this particular bench,’ when they’re actually living with mama and mama doesn’t want that community notification done in her neighborhood so he’s not going to tell anyone that he’s living there.”

Stitz said there are over 17,000 sex offenders on the registry. About 10,000 actually live among us in Arkansas. Records show that 166 sex offenders have declared they are homeless and 115 of them live in Arkansas. Out of those 115, 29 of them are not in compliance.

https://www.lovelycitizen.com/story/1206194.html

Stitz case against city dismissed

Thursday, January 17, 2002

By Bill King

The federal sexual discrimination lawsuit against the city of Eureka Springs, first filed more than five years ago by former police chief Paula Stitz, is over. Paul Bogas, administrative law judge for the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission (EEOC), ruled in favor of the city and dismissed all complaints in a 20-page decision dated Jan. 4, and received by city officials Monday.

Stitz's suit alleged she was terminated Aug. 13, 1996, after eight years as police chief, because of her gender. It further claimed that after the firing, when she first filed a gender-bias suit, the city retaliated by not sending her an employment application for the police chief job; reopening an unsolved homicide investigation; and opening an investigation into missing parking meter money that occurred under her administration.

At the time she was fired, Stitz was the only female city department head. She was fired by a woman, former Mayor Barbara O'Harris, who became her boss when she took office in January, '96.

"I'm very pleased," O'Harris told the Citizen after hearing of the ruling. "They [the court] saw it wasn't sexual discrimination."

O'Harris testified Stitz was fired because of poor job performance, low morale and lax discipline in the police department, and fallout from the department's handling of the 1994 Blues Fest "riot." She made the decision to terminate on her own after discussing Stitz's job deficiencies with her on several occasions, the former mayor testified.

Stitz pointed to her employment file where she had been evaluated as "exceptional" and "outstanding" just a month before her termination by O'Harris's administrative assistant, Don Young. Young had only been on the job two months at the time of the favorable review.

Stitz's attorney, Steven Wood of Rogers, contended "all roads in this case lead back to Don Young - the sexist administrative assistant who could not abide to work for a city which had a female chief of police, and who quickly became the power behind O'Harris' throne."

The judge acknowledged that Young, whom O'Harris fired in 1997, may have been a sexist, but he didn't believe O'Harris' decision was influenced by Young. "By all accounts, Young proved to be a poor selection for the position," the judge wrote. "He had a confrontational, opinionated, impatient style that others found off-putting... he was known to make inappropriate remarks." Several instances of such remarks were referenced.

O'Harris, however, was her own woman and fired Stitz in spite of Young's glowing review, the judge found. "I found O'Harris a credible witness... During questioning she conveyed a forceful, confident, even willful personality that was inconsistent with the portrait the Complainant attempted to paint of a weak female mayor controlled by her male administrative assistant. This was no shrinking violet who did not know her own mind."

"They tried to portray me as a wimp," O'Harris told the Citizen. "I couldn't have survived four years in that office as a wimp."

According to the judge, the only evidence presented which would rebut O'Harris' testimony that Young wasn't involved in the firing was given by former police secretary Anna Epperly, who testified she heard O'Harris tell an officer, the late Bobby Weber, and an unidentified person at Holiday Island, that Young could not work with Stitz and she was forced to choose between the two. The judge listed several reasons for finding Epperly's testimony uncredible and biased.

The judge also dismissed the retaliation charges Stitz alleged. While acknowledging the advertisement for applications for police chief was vague and confusing, he noted that five other applicants who responded as Stitz had were treated exactly the same. Further, he wrote, "The notion that the mayor would have considered the Complainant to succeed herself as chief, had she not filed a complaint of discrimination, borders on fanciful."

He also wrote there was nothing unusual or retaliatory in calling in the state police on an unsolved homicide or conducting an investigation into missing meter money.

While dismissing the charges, the judge did find fault with Stitz being fired without explanation. O'Harris had testified she gave no reason on the "advice of counsel. I had given warnings and didn't feel I owed her anything more."

Bogas acknowledged the mayor was under no legal obligation to state a reason, but "In my view, the Complainant was shabbily treated. Common courtesy would dictate that a 16-year veteran of the police department with eight years as chief was entitled to be formally presented with the reasons why discharge was being contemplated and [given] a chance to respond." He blamed the counsel's advice to withhold reason as being partly responsible for the protracted litigation. "However, shabby treatment is not necessarily discriminatory treatment."

Former Alderman Sheila Seratt, who was the lone council member to attempt to override O'Harris' decision and who testified for the former chief, agreed Stitz was treated shabbily, " My whole objection was the way it was done," she said, "and the way it continues to be done today."

"Personally, I think Paula is a wonderful person," O'Harris said Monday, "I just didn't think she was doing her job. We tried to be as fair as we could and help her. We gave her two or three months severance and vacation pay - we didn't have to do that.

"It's wonderful that righteousness came through. I'm glad the city won't have to pay a lot of money." No monetary damages were stated in the suit.

Stitz now works for the Arkansas Crime Information Center in Little Rock. She said she just learned of the decision and had not had time to absorb it or talk with her attorney about possible recourse.

Stitz speculated two factors lead to her dismissal: that she arrested O'Harris' son on an alcohol related charge, and "the fact that Don Young hated women in any shape or form." She said last week's firing of the fire chief without explanation shows that people will continue to lose their jobs without cause as long as Arkansas remains an "at will employer" state.

"It's like anti-climactic now," said the former police chief. "I always say the best revenge is living well, and I'm doing that."

When are women going to learn that it is NEVER a good idea to download child porn in an attempt to set up an ex?

Well, I suppose you have to go back to 2009 to find it but this is not actually the first time I've featured a case where an attempt to set up an ex. In fact, this isn't even the second time I've featured a story like this, as the second was in 2014. So I guess I'll have another nominee in 2024 for doing the same stupid crap?

https://fox8.com/2019/07/02/arkansas-woman-must-register-as-sex-offender-after-trying-to-frame-husband-for-child-porn-rape/

Arkansas woman must register as sex offender after trying to frame husband for child porn, rape
POSTED 8:57 PM, JULY 2, 2019, BY TRIBUNE MEDIA WIRE

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — An Arkansas woman was given six years probation for trying to frame her husband by downloading child pornography on his cellphone and telling authorities he raped a 13-year-old girl.

Cherie Renee Bolton, 34, of Siloam Springs, pleaded guilty last week in Benton County Circuit Court to distributing, possessing or viewing child pornography and filing a false police report.

Bolton must register as a sex offender and pay more than $2,000 in fines and court fees.

Judge Brad Karren also ordered that Bolton must serve the full six-year sentence.

Bolton was arrested in January 2018 following an investigation by Siloam Springs police after she made the initial allegations about her husband.

Bolton first told police that her husband was sexually assaulting the girl and had attacked Bolton when she caught the pair, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Bolton presented police with three images of child pornography and showed them a possible bruise on her ribs that investigators were unable to positively identify. Bolton said she waited to make a report because she feared retaliation from her husband.

But investigators later discovered that Bolton’s husband had kicked her out of their home days before she called police.

Investigators then extracted the photos from the phone and found Bolton downloaded the images.

Bolton initially denied knowing how the images got on the phone, but after further questioning, said she downloaded them because she was high on meth, in the middle of a manic episode and was upset that her husband was trying to keep her from seeing their kids.

Bolton’s husband and the girl also denied any sexual abuse occurred.

Bolton said after being kicked out of the house, she went to a motel in West Siloam Springs, Okla., where she did meth with a man she met off Craigslist.

She said the man kicked her out of the room after an argument.

Bolton believed she downloaded the images while she was at the motel, but said she couldn’t be sure, according to the affidavit.

She added that she was outside Ozark Guidance in Siloam Springs at some point but later woke up at Springwood’s Behavioral Health in Fayetteville.

Arkansas isn't waiting until Halloween to scare the public with an unnecessary Halloween Bill (SB 10)

Arkansas SB 10 is on the fast track to pass and the bill is completely idiotic. The bill prohibits Level 3 and 4 RCs from distributing candy or other items to minors as part of a Halloween-related event. The bill would also prohibit RCs from wearing a costume or mask at a Halloween-related event with minors.

The bill would not prevent offenders from giving a child candy if they're the child's parent or guardian, or from wearing a costume if they're a parent or guardian of all the children present.

http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2019/2019R/Pages/BillInformation.aspx?measureno=SB10

State of Arkansas
92nd General Assembly A Bill
Regular Session, 2019 SENATE BILL 10

By: Senator T. Garner
By: Representative Petty

For An Act To Be Entitled
AN ACT PROHIBITING A REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER FROM PARTICIPATING IN CERTAIN HALLOWEEN-RELATED ACTIVITIES; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

PROHIBITING A REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER FROM PARTICIPATING IN CERTAIN HALLOWEEN17 RELATED ACTIVITIES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:

SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 5, Chapter 14, Subchapter 1, is amended
to add an additional section to read as follows:

5-14-135. Registered offender prohibited from participating in certain Halloween-related activities.

(a) It is unlawful for a person who is required to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act of 1997, § 12-12-901 et seq., and who has been assessed as a Level 3 or Level 4 offender to knowingly:
(1) Distribute candy or any item to a minor as part of a Halloween-related event; or
(2) Wear a mask or other costume as part of a Halloween-related event if a minor is present at the Halloween-related event.
(b) It is not an offense under:
(1) Subsection (a)(1) of this section if the person is a parent
35 or guardian of a minor to whom the candy or item is distributed; or
(2) Subsection (a)(2) of this section if the person is a parent or guardian of all minors present at the Halloween-related event.
(c) A violation of this section is a Class D felony.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton the Rotten uses Predator Panic to attack the First Step Act

Someone just had to be the idiot to exploit Predator Panic to derail the First Steps Act.

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/26/tom-cotton-criminal-justice-reform-senate-republicans-trump-1015149

Cotton wields sex offender report to tank prisons bill
The senator is seizing on a new DOJ analysis in his fight against fellow Republicans.

By BURGESS EVERETT and ELANA SCHOR 11/26/2018 01:26 PM EST Updated 11/26/2018 09:19 PM EST

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton is locked in an awkward fight with fellow Republicans over their push to change federal prison sentencing guidelines. And now he has a new attack line intended to make his rivals squirm: warnings that sex offenders could get off easy.

A new Justice Department analysis — conducted at Cotton's request — found that the Senate’s bipartisan sentencing and prison reform bill could make people convicted of some sex crimes eligible for early release. And though President Donald Trump supports the bill, Cotton says the DOJ confirmation underpins his argument that convicts of certain sex-related crimes could accrue credits making them eligible for supervised release or “pre-release” to a halfway house.

While GOP leaders are beginning to assess the prospects of the bill on the Senate floor, the Arkansas Republican argues that the latest version of the bill has been rushed and contains significant flaws, and he hopes to sway undecided Republicans to join him.

Cotton and Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have been battling over the specifics of the bill since it was released in mid-November, exactly the type of intraparty firefight Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been hoping to avoid.

The argument over the bill's treatment of sex offenders took center stage on Monday, prompting the latest public shots between the warring Republican senators.

“Now that the Department of Justice has confirmed that the Senate FIRST STEP Act offers early release to multiple categories of sex offenders in several provisions of the bill, Congress should fix these problems instead of ramming this bill through. There is no such thing as a ‘low-risk violent sex offender’ who deserves earlier release than under current law," Cotton wrote in an emailed statement.

Conn Carroll, a spokesman for Lee, defended the legislation in response to the DOJ analysis on Monday and accused the bill’s opponents of “spreading fake news” about the bill.

“Just because a federal offense is not on the specific list of ineligible offenses doesn’t mean inmates who committed [a] non-specified offense will earn early release," Carroll wrote in an email. "All inmates must first pass a DOJ risk assessment before they can even begin earning good time credits. And then they must secure certification from their warden that they are not a threat to safety before they can be released.”

Carroll added that Lee is open to revising the bill if it turns opponents into supporters: “If adding to the list of specifically forbidden offenses would get some senators to yes, we would love to help them do that on the Senate floor.”

Their colleagues are watching closely.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said a Cotton op-ed panning the bill made a "compelling argument" and indicated his vote is in play. A number of Trump's Senate allies, including Grassley, Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), are behind the bill, but in the Senate even a small band of opposed senators can make a floor debate stretch out for a week — all while lobbing attacks at fellow Republicans for being soft on crime.

"I'd like to get it through, but we still have a few problems that we ought to work out," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). "I'm for doing it if we can. We have a shot at it, but we're going to have to have a lot of cooperation."

Senior Senate Republicans said Monday they could not predict what McConnell would do.

“The leader wants a bill that doesn’t divide or fracture the conference,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 GOP leader. “He believes from a timing standpoint it’s better next year in light of all we have to finish up.”

The president has lobbied McConnell to bring up the bill, but the GOP leader has told Trump the Senate's schedule is crowded over the next month. McConnell has emphasized that funding the federal government by the Dec. 7 deadline and finishing a farm bill are his top priorities. And the House would probably have to vote on whatever the Senate passes on criminal justice reform, and ousted House Republicans might want to head home as soon as the funding bill is finished.

Known as the First Step Act, the criminal justice legislation is a key priority for dozens of Republican and Democratic senators in the lame-duck session, including some who have fought for years to get floor time for criminal justice reform. McConnell's chief deputy, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, said the GOP must ascertain whether the bill can come to the floor quickly before committing to considering the legislation.

"We're going to start whipping that," Cornyn said. "Part of the discussion is whether there's going to be an amendment process. That takes time. ... That's really the question: Can we build consensus or come up with an agreement that would allow us to do it on a limited time basis? I don't know the answer yet, but we're going to find out."

Right now, there's little guarantee of cooperation with Cotton calling for Republicans to go back to the drawing board over the bill's treatment of sex crimes.

In a copy of the DOJ correspondence obtained by POLITICO, Cotton’s office asked whether the bill would extend eligibility for credits to individuals convicted of four crimes: failure to register as a sex offender, importing aliens for prostitution, female genital mutilation and first-time assault with intent to commit rape or sexual abuse. The bill currently excludes those convicted of assault with intent to commit rape or sexual abuse from earning the time credits, but only if they’ve served a year or more in prison for a previous conviction.

A DOJ analyst responded that the measure contains no exclusions for people convicted of those crimes and that “all offenders would be eligible to receive more good time credits as a result of the bill.” DOJ referred a request for comment to the White House, which declined to respond to the DOJ analysis.

A spokesman for Grassley, who's shepherded criminal justice talks as Judiciary Committee chairman, drew a bright line between the bill's treatment of "good time" credits and "earned time" credits.

The four sex-related crimes on which Cotton sought information are already eligible for the former category of credits under current law, which the new criminal justice bill would expand to a minor degree in order to fix "a flawed interpretation of existing law," Grassley spokesman Taylor Foy said.

When it comes to the second category of credits, the current version of the billempowers the Bureau of Prisons to determine which prisoners at a “minimum or low risk” of recidivism would be eligible if they complete training programs aimed at reducing the risk of further offenses.

The bill's long list of offenses for which extra credits cannot be earned bars certain types of prisoners "regardless of their risk assessment," Foy added. Nonetheless, the exclusion of Cotton's four categories of offenses could hand ammunition to him and other hard-liners who want to see the bill’s sponsors start over again next year.

Supporters of the current push argue that delay would kill the effort outright, given the fragile bipartisan compromise struck during the lame duck. The new House Democratic majority, they note, could insist on more expansive reforms than just the bill's limited sentencing components.

Trump himself is continuing his campaign for the bill. He held an event on it during his Monday trip to Mississippi to campaign for Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.).


It’s also possible that new categories of offenses could be added to the bill’s exemptions list as an amendment during Senate floor debate. Such tweaks are a relatively common occurrence on sensitive legislation, but opponents of the bill are likely to use any changes to the bill as a reason to stall it on the floor.

Arkansas College Classroom gets a lesson on Predator Panic from backwater, misinformed "Detective"

Presumably, Det. Ted Schaeffer is pointing to the stupid one in the picture

Wow, talk about an out of touch cop! This guy has no idea what he is saying.

1. You may not have "other registries" in Arkansas, but across the countries, we DO have registries for other types of crimes. Here in Ohio where I live, we have an arsonist registry.

2. Reoffense rates for people convicted of sexually based offenses are far lower than any other crime type. They are unique, alright-- uniquely low.

3. This cop is admitting to using the registry as an intimidation tool. That being said, the registry has been proven ineffective. That means it DOES. NOT. WORK!

4. This guy makes an erroneous assumption every registrant suffers from an illness and cannot be "cured." Very few offenders are of the "fixated" variety. I'd trust decades of research over a lone cop who only has "the beat" as a reference point.

This guy was at the college, so maybe he should have enrolled in school since he obviously needs an education!

http://harrisondaily.com/news/sexual-predators-like-to-use-social-media/article_1faabe9e-0d1e-11e8-96e3-332dec6aa5b5.html

A computer networking class at North Arkansas College recently got a little computer instruction they didn’t expect.

Harrison Police Detective Cpl. Ted Schaeffer spoke to the class about the use of social media and how sex offenders or predators can use it to mark potential victims.

Schaeffer told students that the sex offender registry is unique in that it’s the only criminal registry. For instance, there’s no registry for narcotics and burglary convicts.

He said the reason is that for most crimes people can be rehabilitated, but there is no way to rehabilitate a sex offender.

One student said she had taken a psychology class in which some psychiatrists argued that there is rehabilitation for sex offenders.

Schaeffer said that argument is made largely because offenders are taught suppression techniques. They may be able to avoid the situations that made them offend in the first place, but those sexual urges are always present from puberty to the grave.

The sex offender registry is based on the theory that presence is prevention. When people see a police car at the side of the road, they instinctively slow down.

With the registry, the community and police are aware of who are sex offenders, who also have a lingering fear of being arrested again.

But before an offender is arrested, they can easily use social media to stalk victims.

Schaeffer shared with students a 2014 story in the Harrison Daily Times in which a man who had been arrested for sexual assault of underage girls agreed to be interviewed, although he declined to allow the newspaper to use his real name and was identified as “Jack.”

Jack explained that he always used Facebook to meet young girls, although any internet site with private message capabilities would suffice. It also helps if the site allows users to upload photos.

He’d research their profiles, reading past posts and checking out pictures. He’d look for pictures they posted of themselves in skanky clothing or at parties with older guys.

“You know what kind of girl she is,” he told the Daily Times. “It’s easy to read people by how they represent themselves with their clothing and their attitude, previous posts on Facebook.

“If they’re talking about going out and partying in a previous post, even though she’s 12 to 15, if she’s got a bunch of pictures on there of her at a party, you know she loves to party. That opens up a new conversation.”

Jack had also said he would make contact with a number of girls before connecting with one, so it was a numbers game like most other internet scams.

So, Schaeffer urged students to check their social media feeds and profiles, making certain they — even though not under age — could prevent falling victim to a sexual predator.

Than can mean checking friend lists; a predator could easily be checking them as well.

City of Salesville, Arkansas the latest to get in on the harassment signs craze and gets Nazified for it

Kudos to the target of this harassment campaign for retaliating by displaying Nazi and Confederate flags in protest.

http://www.baxterbulletin.com/story/news/local/2017/06/13/salesville-resident-impasse-over-sex-offender-sign-nazi-flags/393290001/

Salesville, resident at impasse over sex offender sign, Nazi flags
SCOTT LILES and JOSH DOOLEY, The Baxter Bulletin Published 3:16 p.m. CT June 13, 2017 |

SALESVILLE — A large sign identifying a sex offender — and apparently the controversial flags the resident has reportedly displayed in protest — will not be coming down, Mayor Tim Mayfield told a concerned businessman Tuesday night.

The sign, maintained by the city and sitting in front of the Salesville Fire Department, identifies **** as a Level 4 sex offender and lists his address. ***, reportedly as a form of protest against the sign, has three Nazi flags and two Confederate flags displayed on his property along AR Hwy. 177 South.

Jon Zabroski, who is developing the Angler’s Rest fishing cabins and Hog Wild ice cream parlor on AR Hwy. 5 South, attended Tuesday night’s City Council meeting and asked to talk about the sex offender sign and ****'s flags.

“As a businessman here in town, that’s bad for business,” he said. “It scares a lot of people, and I would like to see something done about it. I've talked to a talk of people, and I’ve heard that once that sign goes, the flags will go.”

Alderman Thomas Bensman, who lives across the highway from Floyd, said after the meeting that Floyd was displaying the flags in response to the sign.

Zabroski said he was worried that the sign and flags were affecting area businesses.

“You come through town for the river, to go camping, and you see that?” he said. “That’s not what you want to see.”

Mayfield said the city had no jurisdiction over the flags, since they are on private property. The sign is used to make the public aware of who is living nearby, he said.

“It is the total responsibility of this body to make sure the people who come here to visit and the people who live here are notified that that person is in the area,” Mayfield said. “I don’t know if it has ever been done, but I see this big lawsuit that you didn’t do your duty as a public officer to make sure it was known to the public that the person was known to be in the area … I want everyone to know that he’s here.”...

Head Nazi Tim Mayfield

“He is a Level 4 sex offender, which is a sexual predator,” Mayfield said. “It’s not if he’s going to offend, it’s when he does.” ...

*** has owned the property in Salesville since 2011, county land records indicate. Mayfield said that the decision to list sex offenders on a city sign was made by the City Council five or six years ago. According to the BCSO website, *** is the only registered sex offender living in Salesville.

Zabroski suggested that the city print warning posters that area businesses could post as an alternative to the large sign in front of the Fire Department.

“Don’t get me wrong. I think sex offenders should be tossed into jail, the cell doors welded shut and when the door falls off they are free to go,” Zabroski said. “But the sign and the flags aren’t good for the city.”

AkansASS dad Shelton Kitchens posts "child molester" sign because neighbors sleeps with his daigher who is above the age of consent

It isn't even legal to post this sign in your yard against a person on the registry (though law enforcement tends not to arrest people for harassment of registrants), but I'm pretty sure this sign will likely lead to some problems for this idiot father in the long run. I also have a hard time believing a 16 year old girl, a woman beyond the age of consent, could be "lured by puppies." Also, if his daughter is "traumatized," I imagine it is because of the father's reaction if anything.

http://wreg.com/2017/04/27/arkansas-dad-uses-sign-for-child-molester-psa/

Arkansas dad uses sign for ‘child molester’ PSA
POSTED 10:29 PM, APRIL 27, 2017,
BY STACY JACOBSON

HETH, Ark. -- An Arkansas dad is using a handmade sign on his rural St. Francis County property to defend and protect his 16-year-old daughter.

Shelton Kitchens said he learned recently that his daughter was in a sexual relationship with a 21-year-old man.

“I find my daughter like she’s almost eaten alive. It’s sickening when you raise her shirt and look at it. Hickeys all over,” he said.

Kitchens said the man lives near his tire shop.

"She got lured in by puppies," he said.

So Kitchens called the St Francis County Sheriff’s Office. He met with a deputy but they said they couldn't file criminal charges.

“He called Crimes Against Children in Little Rock. They said they can’t do nothing about it because she’s 16 years old,” he said.

In fact, 16 is the age of consent in Arkansas. There was nothing law enforcement officers could do.

So he started a public awareness campaign, putting a sign up that reads, "Danger! Child molester lives in first house on the right.”

It lists the man's last name at the bottom.

Kitchens and his co-workers said they were getting a lot of attention for the sign. It also got shared on social media.

They hoped it helped spread a message and pushed lawmakers to raise the age of consent to 18.

“I want awareness put to other parents so they don’t have to go through what I've gone through the last few days,” Kitchens said.

“It’s going viral. That’s what we want it to do,” said Marcus Rickman, who also works at the tire shop.

But not everyone who drives by is sympathetic.

“The only thing he can really do is be mad at his daughter. He cant be mad at that guy,” Matt Malone said.

Kitchens said his daughter stopped seeing the 21 year old and she’s traumatized. She’ll probably have to go to therapy.

WREG spoke with state lawmakers who said they were not yet prepared to comment on the issue.

Director of Arkansas transitional home refusing to take registered citizens likens them to "nuclear warheads"

Scott Swanson is the seated man in plaid

I can't imagine a person who likens his clients to explosive weapons can be a very effective at counseling and running a transitional program. 

http://harrisondaily.com/news/transitional-housing-facility-near-omaha-barred-refusal-to-take-sex/article_74d1efa6-0053-11e7-8ad4-73375d0fb7b9.html

Transitional Housing facility near Omaha barred; Refusal to take sex offenders stops proposal

Posted: Friday, March 3, 2017 3:00 pm |
By JAMES L. WHITE jamesw@harrisondaily.com | 0 comments

Transitional Housing facility near Omaha barred; Refusal to take sex offenders stops proposal
A meeting about transitional housing for parolees will still be held Wednesday, but the license for a facility near Omaha has been put on a shelf because management didn’t want to take sex offenders.
Arkansas state Rep. Ron McNair told the Daily Times on Friday that he spoke with Arkansas Community Correction officials that day and was told the group opening the facility didn’t meet ACC regulations, so the license application had been pulled.
Lotus Recovery Services LLC had applied for an ACC Transitional Housing Facility License at 5035 Center Loop between Burlington and Omaha. It would accept non-violent prisoners released on parole and counsel them back to living on the outside, including securing employment for them.
When people living in that area heard about the proposal and saw the license application included accepting sex offenders, they rallied together, signing petitions to have the proposal stopped and taking to social media in droves.
McNair said he didn’t know if public outcry was a part of the ACC’s decision.
Jo McEntire, CEO of Giving Back Industries, said her agency is a partner with Lotus in developing the program.
McEntire said the regulation the partnership didn’t meet was that it didn’t want to take Level 3 and Level 4 sex offenders.
McEntire said the program the partners hoped to open would be for non-violent drug offenders released from prison.
“Our focus is recovery,” McEntire said earlier.
The group has spent years developing a program to teach addicts how to live without drugs, but helping rehabilitate sex offenders is a totally different undertaking.
“We do not know how to help the Level 3 and 4 sex offenders,” McEntire said Friday.
In an email to ACC officials, Scott Swanson, who had opened Oxford House addition recovery houses in the Harrison area and is a partner in the newest venture as well, used an analogy to explain Lotus’ position.
Swanson wrote that Lotus had agreed to take 20 or so “sticks of dynamite” that ACC would be releasing. The program Lotus developed would disarm those sticks of dynamite in hopes they would never be “re-fused.”
But as the project got closer, ACC informed Lotus that there would be a couple of “armed nuclear warheads” in the shipment that Lotus would have to figure out how to disarm.
“We have NO programs for sex offenders,” Swanson wrote.
Instead, Swanson wrote that he hoped to be able to help some of the 12,000 prisoners released, 80 percent of whom suffer with addiction, rather than the comparatively few sex offenders
In response, ACC officials said there would be no need for further discussion or negotiations with Lotus and the application would be considered inactive, and that the licensing process would be discontinued.
McEntire said the partnership will continue its efforts to develop transitional housing for addicts, but Friday’s development meant the Center Loop location won’t be possible.
But, she said the 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, meeting at the John Paul Hammerschmidt Center on the North Arkansas College South Campus will still be held for anyone interested.
The presentation will be the same even if the Center Loop location won’t work, McEntire said, adding that the partnership will continue exploring transitional housing for parolees suffering from addiction.

Arkansas State Sen. Missy Irvin looks to ban RSOs from State Parks

So, how often do you get to see a horse's face
AND a horse's ass in the same photo?

State Senator Missy Irvin is pandering to her constituents by trying to impose a park ban on level 3 & 4 registrants in her state. I guess with the cuts she proposed to spending on treatment of crime victims, I guess she wants to avoid looking like the big hypocrite and Teabagger she is. The bill she proposed IS HERE if you want to read it.

http://www.katv.com/story/20706619/bill-to-restrict-where-sex-offenders-can-go-advances
(KATV) Little Rock - A local lawmaker is working to restrict where sex offenders can go. State law currently restricts where they live and bans sex offender from entering a city swimming pool or play ground.

Thursday, Senator Missy Irvin gave an emotional account of what a family friend went through after being sexually abused. Senate Bill 12 hits close to home for her, but it wasn't her proposal. It was requested by the State Parks department to extend what is already law in municipalities to their parks.

Lynn Gilmore testified against the Bill. Lynn is a member of ATAT (Arkansas Time After Time) and currently serve as CEO of SOSEN. To read Lynn's blog, click here.

There are 52 family friendly state parks in the natural state where you can find just about any activity for your adventure level. Peter Brave goes to Pinnacle Mountain about 5 times a week for exercise. He says whether a child can accidentally walk off a cliff or fall into the wrong hands, a parent is the ultimate protector. "You have to be diligent as a parent or guardian. When you have the kids, I think it's your responsibility to keep an eye on them and make sure their out of harm's way."

He says a sex offender should not be able to interact with children, but is hesitant to see eye to eye with a bill prohibiting level 3 and 4 sex offenders from swimming pools and playgrounds in state parks for one issue he's uncertain about. "If it gives people the privilege to come up and ask for everyone's identity without any prompting, I have a problem with that."

Senator Missy Irvin says, "This will allow our State Park officials to tell them to leave."

Senator Irvin is the bill's sponsor. She says level 3 and 4 offenders have a higher tendency to repeat and they're regarded as more violent.

There is still a ways to go. The bill got unanimous approval from the Senate floor but it still needs to pass the House judiciary committee and the House. After that Governor Beebe will decide whether to sign it into law. Irvin adds, "This Bill and this effort kind of protect an impeccable reputation that Rangers have of providing a safe, fun and affordable place for families to come together and have a good vacation and experience."

Senator Irvin says it's also a way for park rangers to work close with law enforcement.

If it passes, it could go into effect immediately. Violating it would be a Class D felony.

Senator Irvin says a level four sex offender contacted her and said he disagreed with the bill.