Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz urges state to improve tracking of sexual offenders

(MIAMI) – Miami-Dade County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz wants the state of Florida to do a better job of tracking sexual offenders who identify as “transient,” which often makes it difficult to determine their location. 

At the Wednesday, January 22, 2014 Board of County Commission meeting, Commissioner Diaz will sponsor a resolution urging the Florida Legislature to require sexual offenders and predators without a permanent residence to provide a specific address on their driver’s license or identification card and register monthly with law enforcement  -- or face third-degree felony charges.

Currently, transient sexual offenders are only required to indicate their county of residency on their driver’s license and need to register only twice or four times a year, depending on the category of their offense.

“The state needs to do a better job of tracking transient sexual offenders, because families are entitled to know if a sexual offender may be living in their neighborhood,” Commissioner Diaz said. “Some sexual offenders deliberately misidentify themselves as transient even if they are not homeless in order to avoid law enforcement oversight, and we have to stop this.”

A 2012 report by the Florida Legislature’s Office of Program Policy Analysis & Government Accountability (OPPAGA) found that 40 percent of sheriff’s offices reported they had difficulty locating “transient” sexual predators and offenders and that this was a  major impediment to address verification. Commissioner Diaz’s resolution has the support of the Florida Sheriffs Association.

For more information, please contact Commissioner Diaz’s office at 305-599-1200.