Commentary: Too paranoid? 

Or not paranoid enough?

I am writing this blog entry after attending the 2021 NARSOL Conference in Houston. There I spoke to quite a few people who came to my display table to discuss their travel experiences or ask questions about travel.

You would think that registrants and advocates motivated enough to attend a NARSOL conference and hear the horror stories told there about abuses of police powers, would also be concerned enough about their own personal safety and legal exposure to take travel risks seriously.

But no. Just like at other occasions when I have had the opportunity to discuss registered travel, I was surprised how readily some people admit that they just get in their car or RV, or jump on an airplane, and go wherever without following the rules that apply to them, either those of their state of registry or the state(s) where they travel.

 

Not paranoid enough

People give all kinds of reasons for not following the rules.  One very active member of the Florida Action Committee who was at the NARSOL conference maintains that these travel restrictions are an unconstitutional restriction on his right to travel, so he refuses to follow them on principal. Besides, he says, he has never been pulled over by the cops for a traffic violation in his entire life, so why should he worry about it now?

As to the unconstitutionality of registrant travel restrictions or for that matter the entire sex offender registry system in America, you’ll get no argument from me. Some of us (including some at the conference) hold out the dream of a mass movement in which we all march on Washington and engage in acts of civil disobedience to take the whole system to the Supreme Court and get it all overturned. In fact NARSOL & ACSOL are organizing a march on Washington in March 2023 (yes, over a year from now) and I will be enthusiastic about going.

While we all wait for this dream to come true, however, we are all stuck with the existing registry and I strongly recommend you DO NOT pretend it doesn’t apply to you. As for assuming you’ll never get pulled over for some stupid reason and have everything spin out of control, there have been far too many recent news stories about “driving while Black” not to take this possibility seriously.

Since starting my travel research and blog I have spoken to a number people who said: Gee whiz, I didn’t know I was supposed to report travel to my local sheriff! I just went on my trip(s) and nothing ever happened, so why should I worry about it on future trips?  I have also had people tell me they know they’re supposed to follow the rules but they don’t – they just “fly below the radar” and hope for the best.

My advice in every case is, don’t do that! Now that you know what the rules are, it costs you very little to follow those rules. Report travel in advance. Buy a travel log book at your local office supply store and keep it up to date as you travel. Keep all your receipts so you can prove your whereabouts if asked. Download my 50 State Visitors Guide and bring it with you as you travel to refresh your memory. Yes, these are indignities that I chafe at too. But these precautions will keep you safe. I don’t want you to have an encounter with law enforcement, and have them call up your home town sheriff’s department to ask, “Did y’all know this guy was here in Texas?” and have them respond, “No, and we think that’s a registry violation!”

Too paranoid

One week after the 2021 NARSOL conference I listened in on ACSOL’s monthly Zoom call, which I habitually do. They are very informative. At the beginning of each call they ask the participants to vote on a list of topics, and then they discuss each topic in the order of importance, with the one receiving the most votes going first. PS they record these Zoom calls and you can listen to them by going to their website.

Travel (domestic & international) is always one of the top vote-getters on these Zoom calls.  In fact, on the October 2021 ACSOL Zoom call travel was the #1 ranked topic, so they took it up first. I know from my own research that some of the information disseminated on these calls is inaccurate, although I make it my practice never to “raise my hand” and try to correct or disagree with anything Janice Bellucci says.

Instead, I will discuss two travel questions which came up on that October 2021 Zoom call (and have come up previously) and illustrate that there is such a thing as being way too paranoid.

One call participant asked (I am paraphrasing here), he had heard that some hotel chains have a policy of not allowing registered people at their establishments, and that some states or localities have laws that require hotels to notify all other guests of the presence of any registered person at their establishment. Janice’s response was (again I am paraphrasing) that to guard against this eventuality you should always call ahead and ask the hotel if they have any such policy. She also opined that if they say yes, that wouldn’t be a hotel you’d want to patronize anyway.

Well, I can’t disagree with that last sentiment. However, I completely disagree that there is any need for you to tell any hotel, motel, campground or other accommodation about your legal status and hand them an opportunity to refuse you service.

Why would you expose yourself to that kind of humiliation when you don’t have to? The truth is you DON’T have to, for one very good reason: at least as far as I know, there isn’t one hotel chain, private or public campground or other accommodation anywhere that has its computers tied into the national sex offender data base so they can check on your status and refuse to take your money. At least not yet, anyway. So until further notice, as far as I am concerned it’s none of their damned business!

On my most recent road trip to the Southwest I stayed at eight motels and seven campgrounds in nine states over 2 1/2 week period. The question of my registry status never came up, nor has it ever come up on any other cross country trip. So stop worrying about this.

Now, let me be clear: If while traveling and after consulting my 50 State Visitors Guide you know that a state or local regulation would preclude you from being present at or staying overnight someplace, you should definitely not stay there. For example, there are a few states that don’t want you to be near a swimming pool. Of course that’s stupid. Nevertheless it may influence your choice of motels.  Some states don’t mind if you camp at a state park but want you to stay a certain distance from a playground. Before you check into the campground, check the vicinity for any lurking playground.

As you surely know, some states or localities have rules about how far you have to be from a school or park or daycare center. Before checking into a motel in such a place you may want to take a quick spin around the neighborhood.  However, common sense is going to tell you that an isolated Interstate highway exit with a couple of motels, gas stations and fast food joints is likely to be pretty far from the nearest school or park or daycare center, so most of the time you’ve got nothing to worry about.

Another topic that comes up all the time on ACSOL Zoom calls is navigating the maze of local punitive regulations that have proliferated across America.  I have heard Janice Bellucci recommend several times that before traveling you should carefully research the regulations in your proposed destination, or consult an attorney in that destination.

Technically, I can’t argue with that advice. If it makes you feel better to do all that research, or pay someone else to do it, I guess that’s what you should do. As a practical matter, however, if I researched in advance every regulation in every city or county I passed through on a two week road trip (a) I’d surely go insane, and (b) there’d be no time left for the actual road trip. There has to be some limit to the safeguards you need to take before traveling.

In this regard there is also another consideration: How much effort are all these local governments putting into policing all this maze of punitive regulations, especially as it relates to a visitor who’ll only be stopping for a night or two to visit the local tourist attraction? The answer is, no effort at all. These local regulations have been adopted to subjugate the local resident registrant population, and as punitive and unconstitutional as they may be, they couldn’t care less about you as a visitor. Go spend your money on tourism and trinkets and be on your way.

Since my state of registry is Florida, I will use Miami-Dade County – home of some of the most draconian presence and residency regulations in a state that already has some of the worst registry laws in the U.S. – to illustrate my point.  I always recommend to any out of state registrant to never come to Florida no matter what. As you are reading this, Miami-Dade is forcing registrants from their homes and making us live under bridges and along railroad tracks, then sending in the cops to chase us away even from that. This is why I would never set foot in Miami.

And yet, if you as an out-of-state visitor ignore my advice and fly into Miami to go to your uncle’s wake – making sure to arrive early on Day 1, go to the funeral and family gathering, hit the beach the next morning and leave later on Day 2 because under Florida state law Day 3 would trigger you requirement to register and you definitely don’t want that to happen – anyway, when you check into your hotel for that one night stay nobody is going to check your registry status and no officer is going to show up to kick you out of your room. They’ve got actual crime to worry about.

And so it is across this great land of ours. Local governments enact stupid laws to please angry constituents and then never get around to enforcing those laws because they have better things to do.

Unless, of course, you show yourself to be a complete idiot by driving into town, parking next to a playground, sitting on a park bench while watching the children play and generally making yourself look like a suspicious person. Then when the cops do show up, they find out you’re a registered sex offender and throw the book at you.

Here’s my advice: don’t do that. If you follow this advice, and report your travel to your hometown sheriff’s department before leaving, and stick pretty close to the itinerary you gave them, and keep a travel log, and hang onto your receipts to prove your whereabouts … then you will be all right.