"I know that the police are just pawns in this game of sex offender chess. "

Disagree. Law Enforcement (as a whole) is much much more than a passive player in this. It seems no opportunity is wasted to beat the sex offender hysteria drum, which in turn necessitates increased activity, resulting in increased funding and ultimately job security. And that is what it is all about.

Examples:

- Grady Judd in Polk County, FL and his many press conferences
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/investigations/2014/08/05/grady-judd-polk-county-sex-offender-mugshots/13627259/
- CA CDCR offering ride-alongs to media during Operation Boo (Halloween checks)
http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/news/operation-boo-media-component.html
- The Police Officers Research Association of California being one of the main sponsors of the recently declared unconstitutional requirement to provide internet identifiers under Proposition 35
http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article4187588.html
- etc etc

@dixon

So makes the police what bishops? They have no power to change the situation that is why I consider them pawns. The courts and legislature are the king and queen of this chess board. Not that the police have no blood on their hands, they do.

Your are right that the police are still a big part of the problem, I didn't mean to come across that they weren't. The issue is they have no official power to make any of our lives that much better. They don't write the laws nor do they decide on their constitutionality.

In part I agree that LE does not have control over the laws but they DO have control over how they enforce them (to a certain extent) for instance the person that arrested my daughter instead of having compassion for someone in a situation that I can almost guarantee you has happened to that cop as well he decided to make her life hell at that moment. The choices cops make in one split second very often change that persons life forever - and the hard part is that anyone that has been in LE or intimate with LE can tell you that the things they arrest "us" for they also do in everyday normal life!

They also have the option to speak out for the things they see that are not constitutional or things that violate peoples civil rights - they have the ability to speak out against hatred and prejudice. I have had law enforcement (POs, sheriffs etc) tell me they think the SO laws are wrong but do you see any groups called Cops Against the Registry?

I agree advocate, in no way am I saying the cops are innocent in this situation. Not by a long shot! But they are not power brokers who can change our plight.

Part of the problem with cops is they see the worst of the worst all the time. How many people can say they have seen dead bodies laying on the pavement at work? How many people deal with people that want to kill you? Police don't have empathy because they deal with 200,000 drunk driving injuries every year. That is most likely why the cop didn't give your daughter a break advocate. There are some cops who get off on enforcing rules but many more of them actually think what they are doing is helping.

Every time you go register think about the cop that is doing that. They hate to do it too. I had a cop who was being a real @$$ to me and I asked him what was wrong. And he said he had to register perverts all day. So I told him about my crime that I had to register for and he told me that I wasn't a pervert and that maybe i just got caught up in the system that was going full boar.

I agree the cops aren't innocent and have blood on their hands when it comes to sex offenders, but I don't think it's a malicious conspiracy. They think they're doing what's best for society. They are so very wrong, but they don't have much power and they are a much lesser concern to me than congress and the SCOTUS.

Did i mention i love football? With that said i appreciate all of your responses. I see you all have experiences and opinions. This is a subject we can debate forever. But lets look at the reason we are on this forum. My thoughts are to help and support those who are in the situation of a sex offender and their familyloved ones. This is why i am here. I will try to not take it personally. My love and compassion is for my son in law and his family along with my own regardless of my job and my opinions of the criminal justice system. Everyone of you have valid points. And so do i. Lets use this as a learning experience. Thanks for listening.

Agreed, it should be all about how we can help each other.

I have met some police officers who were very nice, polite, helpful. All the State Troopers who were in my house the day we were raided, were very nice, very polite. But the officers who had my son in another closed room, got him to admit everything he had done, they told him that they did not want him, that he would not be arrested if he agreed to let them use his email accounts to go after the "big fish". Needless to say, my son is now serving 10 years and sitting in another state awaiting trial on more charges with another possible 15 years. When all is done, he will eventually end up in a federal facility. I do not hate the police (they are only doing their job), but I have learned that we better know our rights and insist they are honored.

Again that is the problem, the police are in no position to promise anything because they don't make te final decision about what happens to you. This is even more true in mandatory reporting situations!

Independent, I agree, but if you were raised to trust the police, to go to them if you need help, unfortunately, you learn the hard way.

20 years ago, things seemed different, police officers and law enforcement were about protecting our country and the citizens in them. Since then the war on Terror has started and with the number of home grown terrorists and bombings here in the USA law enforcement has been tasked with more than what was necessary just 10 years prior. They have been trained to look at all of us at potential suspects or potential terrorists. Remember the pilots of the planes that flew in to the twin towers were trained in Florida.

The nature of crime, the nature of terrorism and where WE see it has changed a lot in 20 years. Terrorism has been going on for centuries in other parts of the world but as usual, outta sight outta mind for us Americans.

I can understand your fierce loyalty to the profession that you have been in for 23 years, but you have to say that over those 23 years you didn't see the change. My uncle who was a cop in Chicago for over 25 years has stated that things are far different now than they were even a short 15 years ago. Even you state yourself that the first thing after asking if your son-in-law was ok was to tell him not to talk to anyone without an attorney. But as someone as experienced as you are in law enforcement it is common knowledge the basic interrogation techniques to help the person of interest to feel comfortable, get them to see 'reason' and help you. Imply that they know more than they do to elicit candid responses that reveal more information to utilize to build the evidence against the person. This is the job of the interrogator.

Because law enforcement is in a position of power or at the very least perceived power by the general public, they are given to the same tendencies that human beings that are given that kind of power are inclined to do. Even if 80% or more of officers and agents out there are honest, upstanding and compassionate people, it only takes a fraction of the 20% that are left to soil the reputation of the other 80% of the good ones. I know that sounds horrible and that we should be better people, but we are human beings and those are our tendencies proven again and again over time. The same can be said for the public and law enforcement, because of the egregious crimes against a handful of children over 20+ has condemned over 800,000 people to a public registry, that protects no one.

I can understand your fierce loyalty to your profession and colleagues and appreciate that you are in that 80% of good people that are doing a good job. Just as you are loyal to your profession and friends on the job, we too have seen the process from the other angle and possibly with agents or officers that were not like you and yours.

I am sure most of you here have heard of the college student experiment where they put them in a situation where 1/2 of them were guards and 1/2 were prisoners, then what happened after their role play started. How far were they willing to go to fulfill their roles. It is one of the reasons that our militaries and sports teams wear the same uniforms, it gives them a sense of belonging to a group. Putting people in their 'roles' will incite somewhat predictable responses over time.

I understand your trouble with hearing our disdain for basically the whole system, but when you look at it from the perspective of the role that the 'person of interest/perpetrator/accused' is in without your prior experience and knowledge of your own personal experience, how do you think you might react? I personally can see why you find some of our comments offensive, if I were from your line of work I would too, as I have irritation about people that complain about IT departments or make bold statements about things they know nothing about. Support is about seeing things from all angles, figuring out that you are not alone and that maybe there is something to learn from all the perspectives that you have encountered. Maybe there is something that we can learn from you about the why's of the behavior of law enforcement. There is training, thus there are probably reasons for the way things are done, the whys of how certain policies and procedures came to be. Process improvement. Help us understand from a perspective of a person that has been on the other side of the table from the rest of us and then all of a sudden is getting to see things from another perspective. That is unique, prone to all the emotions that come with that kind of betrayal. It doesn't sound like you believe your SIL evil incarnate or some kind of monster like Phillip Gurrido (the gentleman that held a girl captive for 18 years and had 2 children with her, all whilst on supervision, GPS and the registry).

I was taught by my family what the police are and their role in our society. They are there to report and enforce the law, if you see someone breaking the law and then tell them, they are obligated to do something and pass it on to prosecutors. That is their role in the system. It pains me to hear and read about people that were trained by their parents and teachers to trust the police implicitly, only to hear that they called the police for 'help' and received something that many would say is far from help. From the perspective of the law enforcement it will look like help being given, from the other side of that same fence it can look far different.

I remind people that felonies are committed every day by them and others around them, they just aren't getting caught. I know of very few people that hasn't committed a felony in their lifetime, that hasn't gotten caught, in fact I may know only one person that has never committed a crime that could be prosecuted as a felony ever.

It will be sad to lose your perspective.

Well said Wisconsinrsol. You have great insight. And that experiment was very interesting to say the least. And to everyone else again i appreciate your thoughts. I had no idea so many have had bad experiences with LE. I will keep that in mind while on this forum.

I even had CPS sent to my door, because I was fighting for what daughter wanted. Dectectives said I was manipulating her.
The whole legal system put a very sour taste in my mouth, coming from a parent of abuse survivor.

Example of the "Power" they think they possess...

The FBI came to the house to get my older son. My younger son was sound asleep in bed, they woke him up with a gun to his head and said we know you are not the one we are coming for. We are not a bunch of bad asses, we are a very normal middle class family never been in trouble - they also know that. So my point is if they knew all along the younger one was not the one they were there for why did they have to put a gun to his head....because they had the power! My only hope is someday the power will be taken away from those officers.

People outside of these forums have no idea the bullshit they put families through very unnecessarily. I also have family and friends in uniforms so yes, I know there are good ones out there with many bad apples.

Many people experience different sides of law enforcement. The cops that came to my home when my husband was arrested pointed a gun at my upstairs neighbor and told him to go inside when he came out on his balcony when he heard a commotion at 6am. On the other had they let my husband put on his regular clothes so he didn't have to be paraded in his pajamas. The same ones also gave a bull crap story on the record of things my husband supposedly said (which he didn't because he just kept telling them he's not talking without a lawyer). And don't get me started on the assistant attorney general...he was a complete arse! Now that my husband is in prison, the 3 times I have gotten to visit him he will point out some of the guards and sergeants and tell me what a-holes they are, but they have been nothing but kind to me and my children. They also always try to do what they can to make sure you get to visit even if you are wearing something they decided isn't allowed. (And by decided I mean there is a list of things you can and can't wear and depending on their moods for the day they will add things to the list or just decide to change the rules). There are good and bad law enforcement people. They can be good or bad but that is how it is everywhere. Please don't take offense to how people feel.
Think about your son in law. Now that he's in the situation that he is in you will probably be more sensitive to people who say things about sex offenders. You are a cop so naturally you will take offense to people bad mouthing cops. Don't give up on us just yet. We are all here to support each other.