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 Van 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 Van 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.
