Sex Offender Registry Becoming Politician’s “Cash Cow”
This is just about the craziest thing I’ve read lately.
NewsMS out of Jackson, MS. reported that according to Rep. Tom Miles, there is a serious shortage of highway patrolmen. Out of the 489 currently working the roadways, 189 are due to retire in the near future. The state needs ongoing training for state troopers, the problem is how to fund that training.
Rep. Andy Gipson has a long term solution which he filed in House Bill 505 on Tuesday. Get sex offender registrants to pay for a new state trooper school. By increasing the annual state sex offender registration from $25 per year (which according to Rep. Gipson is a lot lower than other states) to $100 annually, the difference would go towards funding a small state trooper school somewhere down the road.
Other more immediate funding efforts are also being sought.
Now, I ask you, what does the sex offender registry have to do with state troopers? As far as I know, local police, not state troopers, are usually the ones (overly, unfortunately) involved in the daily lives of registrants..
A $25 annual registration fee is already “too much” when you consider the fact that there is no registration or fee connected to crimes such as murder, theft, burglary, etc. And for a group of people that traditionally have difficulty finding jobs because of the ridiculous “Scarlet Letter” that continuously drags them and their families down, $25 is a big deal!
How does lack of funding for a state trooper school become a sex offender’s problem?
The registry should not be a “cash cow” for states. When funding is needed why is the politicians first thought, “Let’s charge registrants more?” What kind of thought process is that? Do they not realize registrants have ALREADY served their time, paid restitution, had their lives and the lives of their families thrown into a chaos that challenges them everyday single day?
Breaking News: Registrants are not “open wallets”, they are not the proverbial “cash cow” for politicians.
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We registrants already have to pay plenty when most of us can’t get or keep jobs once the employer finds out. I had to begin donating plasma twice a week just to make ends meet.
Very interesting-